


Nothing like summer in the city

by Ificouldbeanything123



Series: The Hamilton boys (and friends) [1]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Alexander Hamilton, Fluff and Angst, Good Parent Alexander Hamilton, Human Disaster Alexander Hamilton, I’ve added more tags :), Mental Health Issues, Multi, Polyamorous Alexander Hamilton, Slow Burn, The working title for this was “this is illegal”, and I’m not even American, and I’ve decided on the ships :D, cause I’m writing about the founding fathers, like so slow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:01:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 40,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25157431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ificouldbeanything123/pseuds/Ificouldbeanything123
Summary: After Alexander and Eliza’s, divorce, Alex decides to move back to New York, Philip in tow, both to keep close to Eliza and his other children, who had moved two months prior, as well as to escape the pressing feeling of guilt that seemed to permeate his old apartment.But back in New York there are lots of people he knew, and running into people who’s relationship with him had either fallen apart or had never been great to begin with was bound to happen with his luck.At least he had Philip to keep him mostly sane.
Relationships: Alexander Hamilton & Philip Hamilton (1782-1801), Alexander Hamilton/Elizabeth “Eliza” Schuyler (past), Alexander Hamilton/John Laurens, Alexander Hamilton/Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton/Thomas Jefferson/John Laurens, Maria Reynolds/Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler
Series: The Hamilton boys (and friends) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1894888
Comments: 117
Kudos: 94





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first multi chapter fic I’ve posted, and while I’d like to keep a consistent update schedule I can’t promise. I’ll try tho. Maybe some support for the story would give me more motivation? Anyway, thanks for reading :)

Alexander Hamilton knew the struggles of moving. He’d moved to a new country, moved to a new city, and during his youth he tended to hop from home to home too often to count. Somehow though, it never mattered how many times he did it, moving always stressed him out. The packing as quickly as possible, the stress of new neighbors, even the new living space which he usually had at least glimpses of beforehand tended to send his heart rate into overdrive. 

It happened every time he moved too, so really he shouldn’t be surprised at his clammy hands and rapid breathing. Honestly he shouldn’t. But he was caught off guard anyway. He thought it was going to be okay this time, this was a chance for a new start and he was supposed to stay strong for Philip. He had been fine a few hours ago, hell even a few minutes ago when he had been loading up the final boxes with Philip he’d been singing and laughing with his son. Yet somehow when he went back for a final look around he’d ended up just staring around in distress. 

He wiped at his eyes, which burned with unshed tears, and shook himself, trying to get rid of the trembling his body had taken to doing - it wasn’t very successful but it was something. Slowly he walked around his apartment. The one which he had shared with Eliza and his children, his first apartment with a significant other. He scoured the corners and kitchen, double and triple check king they hadn’t left anything behind. The living room was cleared minus an ancient recliner that was to be taken to the dump, the kitchen was clear of food, pots and pans, as well as the dishwasher. The bedrooms were entirely clear, ugly carpet that had previously been mostly covered was now on full display. Satisfied, he stood in the middle of the nearly bare living room, taking in an eye full of his old life. 

Turning he took a final look at his apartment. Took in the metaphorical ashes of his life here in , the empty lifeless apartment he used to call home. He truly had nothing else here for him, not even his other children, for they had moved back to the outskirts of New York along with Eliza. Before he thought anymore he turned on the ball of his foot and left the building walking like he hadn’t been about to have a complete breakdown a few moments prior. 

“Pa!” Philip leaned out the window of the small 2006 Nissan waving wildly. “Took you awhile, I was about to go see if you were alright,” 

A grin split across Alex’s face, cutting through the dead look he had in his eyes seconds before. “No need Pip, I just had to give the place a good love over to make sure you didn’t leave anything important behind,” he said ruffling Philip’s hair. “You comfy back there?” 

All of their things had been stacked in the two seats beside Philip’s seat as well as in the trunk, carefully compiled so they could all or most of their things in the car alone. It looked terribly cramped but Philip smiled at him as wide as ever, granola bars and water bottle in hand, so it can’t have been too bad. 

“No, I’m good Pa,” Philip said cheerily, warming Alex all of the way though. His boy, was certainly the best part of his life. 

Philip gave him a big gap toothed grin, as Alex moved around over to the drivers side, throwing open the door and nearly hitting himself in the face. Putting his keys in the 2010 vehicle, the engine sputtered to life, sounding less than ideal for the over six hours they were going to be in it. It would be fine, it hadn’t given up on him yet. 

“Ready for our new adventure Pip?” Alex asked, pulling out of the apartment parking lot. Philip nodded fiercely in the back, his curly hair bouncing into his face as he laughed. 

“Hell yeah, Pa!” He shouted, still grinning even as Alex raised an eyebrow at his eight year old through the mirror. 

~*~

It took about two hours for Philip to start complaining. Honestly it was a record in Hamilton’s book, being as it usually only took one hour of driving for Philip to be fed up. Thankfully it wasn’t the whiny complaining Philip had taken to doing around three years ago after he found that it tended to get him what he wanted. He still remembered the headaches he would get after he whines. Really, though, he hadn’t whined like that since the divorce. 

So, gathering his patience Alex offered the boy some McDonald’s if he agreed to stop tugging at his sleeve every five stop signs cause he saw a cute dog or something of the like. Luckily, that was just what was needed, because as soon as Philip had food in his belly he started dozing off, leaving Hamilton in the peace and quiet of the radio and the sounds of road rage. 

They made it to their new apartment in New York in good time, having left around eleven and getting there at about 6. Philip had been dozing on and off since lunch, every once in a while striking up a conversation until he inevitably fell asleep again. Alex knew he was going to regret letting him sleep this much now, because tonight he was never going to. But Alex has needed some time to clear his head, to get his shit together for his boy. It wasn’t working out as well as hoped but his mind wasn’t quite as crowded with thoughts as it was earlier and that was enough. 

So there they both stood, with as much as they could carry, staring up at the building ahead of them. Alex starred in apprehension, stomach twisting in his gut. New home, new start. He told himself, attempting to breath out evenly. Philip, meanwhile, was staring up in awe. Sure he had lived in a big city before, but this was New York City, and this was his new home. A sudden jolt of pure joy went through the boy and he suddenly rushed forwards, pulling his Dad with him as best he could. 

“Come on, come on Pa!” He shouted excitedly, nearly dropping his backpack full of toiletries. “We’ve gotta check out the new place!” 

Hamilton stumbled after Phillip, pulled out of his haze involuntarily by his son’s harsh tugging. They make it past the doors of the apartment without too much hassle and managing to only drop one thing. The landlady met them at the elevator, welcoming them to their new apartment and handing them the keys to their new place. Alex gave the older lady a distracted thank you, making the corners of her eyes crinkle as Philip continued to pull him along. Shouting in excitement the whole time. 

“Philip slow down, we’re going to drop our things” Alex scolded as they entered the elevator. Apparently he was more exhausted than he thought if Philip’s non-stop attitude - one that was very similar to his own - had managed to wear him down even after the long car ride. 

“But Pa, I’ve never seen New York!” Philip bubbled, practically vibrating as he struggled to balance his luggage, “we’ve gotta get the stuff in the place and then explore!” 

Alex laughed softly, nudging their things lightly with his hip so they stayed balanced and Philip wouldn’t drop them. He remembered coming to New York for the first time when he was seventeen. The city seemed massive and full of wonders. Possibilities for another chance around every corner and through every ally. The high buildings and busy streets were so different from the small town of Nevis. Now he watched Philip experience the same sense of awe he had, dropping his suitcases and backpack to rush over and stare out the window. Hamilton understood the awe, but he also understood that the streets Philip was busy admiring were pretty gross, and the back allies weren’t to be trusted. 

“Okay Pip, if you can help me unpack our things we can go out and explore for a little bit.” Philip whirled towards him, moving away from the window slightly, his grin spreading even wider. “If you start now, I’ll go get the rest of our things.” 

Philip nodded enthusiastically, grabbing his suitcases and backpack then rushing to the smaller bedroom that contained the parts for his bed, which had been delivered earlier that week. 

Smiling fondly, Alex left their apartment closing the door behind himself and heading back to the parking garage to retrieve the rest of their things. Most of which were clothes and a few stuffed animals Philip had forgotten to pack into the boxes the moving van would pick up. Carefully he stacked the rest of their things in his arms and headed back over to the elevator to go back up. 

As he stopped in front of the elevator, he realized he had a problem. He didn’t have the hands to press the up button. The landlady who had pressed the button before - a Ms. Calicut if he remembered correctly - must have gone back to wherever she lived, so now he had no way to get into the elevator. Sighing in frustration, Hamilton carefully lifted his knee trying not to jostle his carefully stacked pile of suitcases and stuffed animals. 

“Hey, do you need some help with that?” Alex started, whirling around to look at the person who spoke to him, dropping everything he was holding in the process. 

“Shit, shit, shit” Alex muttered, scrambling to gather everything he dropped. Now he had to go rewash all of Pip’s stuffed toys, and by the looks of it, some of his own clothes because apparently his ancient suitcases zipper had finally broken. It was a good thing Pip wasn’t around to hear his language “Fuckity fuck fuck.” 

“Are you good man?” Oh yeah, that guy was still here. Alex looked up at him and was frozen for a moment because holy shit this man was gorgeous. Freckles covered his whole face making him think of the constellations he used to see in the sky above Nevis, and his hair framed his face so nicely. Snapping himself out his stupor, Alex coughed uncomfortably, feeling his cheeks heat up from starting more than necessary. “Here I’ll help you carry this stuff. It’s my bad that you dropped it,” 

Okay, so this is how this was going to go. Carefully Alex began to pile up his things, the stranger helping to both stabilize his precarious structure as well as add onto it. He nearly had everything in his arms when he stood up, trying not to jostle the pile. Looking down, he then realized that Philip’s favourite toy, a small stuffed turtle his younger sister Angie had got him, was still on the floor. Alex had no way to pick it up as his hands were entirely occupied, so he had no choice but to ask the stranger to grab it for him. Which was entirely too awkward for his comfort. 

“You know, if you wanted I could just carry some of that stuff for you. I do live here too” Alex almost snorted. Like hell he was going to let that happen. 

“No thank you,” Alex said politely, shaking his head in concordance with his statement “besides, if we were both carrying something who would press the elevator button. You saw how well trying to do it with my knee worked last time.” 

The stranger laughed brightly, curls bouncing around his face as he did so. 

“To be fair, you actually might have gotten it if I hadn’t startled you,” he chuckled as he turned to press the button for the elevator. 

“Well I’m glad you have such faith in my balance, but I probably would have fallen anyway even if you didn’t scare the life out of me,” Alex said lightly, stepping into the elevator. “Floor 4” 

“Right at the top huh?” The strangers smile widened “well I’m only a floor under you so hopefully we’ll be seeing more of each other…” 

“Alexander Hamilton” he supplied. He would have shaken the man's hand, but both were rather occupied. 

“John Laurens” the man said in reply as they got to the fourth floor. The elevator doors opened, and the two stepped out and began to walk down the hall. “You’re lucky you got here today, the elevator just got fixed so you’ll have a good few days before it breaks again.” 

“Mmm” Alex hummed in acknowledgment as he struggled to get his key out of his pocket as they approached the door. Deciding that that wasn’t going to work he turned to John when they stopped outside. “Hey, can you knock on my door? My keys are mildly unavailable. My kid is inside, so hopefully he’ll open the door.” 

Before either of them could do anything however, the door swung open wildly, revealing a grinning Philip and a slightly less mess apartment - or maybe more messy but in a different way - behind him. 

“Hey Pa, I cleaned up a bit, can we go out now? Can we?” Out of the corner of his eye, Alex saw John startle beside him, grin falling from his face for a moment before returning full force. 

“Pip, we’ve actually got to set some stuff up before we can go out, we can’t just pile it all up on the couch like it seems you’ve done” Alex replied, walking into the apartment and raising a questioning eyebrow at the tower on their ugly patterned couch. 

“But Paaaaaaa,” Philip whined before cutting himself off as John entered the room “who are you?” 

“My name is John,” he said, squatting down to get level with Pip, “your Dad needed some help carrying some stuff. I assume this is yours?” 

Philip grabbed the turtle enthusiastically, his grin showing his missing front tooth. 

“Pizza! Thanks for bringing him to me John. Oh do you know any interesting places to go here? I wanna explore” Philip was talking rapid fire now and Alex knew that there wasn’t much he could do to shut him up. He shot an apologetic smile at John who raised an eyebrow in return, smiling right back. “Ooh is there any parks? How about ice cream. Oh, Pa, can we get ice cream?” 

“Pip, if you can help me tidy this place in an hour you can choose where we eat when we go exploring” Alex said, attempting to distract the kid. Fortunately it worked and Philip whipped his head toward him, eyes wide. 

“McDonald’s?” Alex sighed. How did he know that would be what his kid would want. 

“Yes Pip, we can get McDonald’s” excited, Philip scrambled to his new room to begin putting things away. Turning to John, Alex, once again, smiled apologetically. “Sorry about him. He’s a bit wired” 

“It’s no problem,” John said, standing up from his squat “he seems like a nice kid either way.” 

“Yeah, when he’s not hyper from being stuck in a car for multiple hours he is,” Alex laughed, throwing a look towards his kids bedroom. 

“So you just moved to New York then?” 

“Yeah, but I lived here when I went to college but I moved away with my ex-wife when we had Philip. It’s been a while but it’s as crowded as I remember,” John laughed with him, eyes sparkling in joy. 

“Yep, that’s New York. The city that never sleeps. Or as i like to call it, ‘please shut up random lady, its four am and I'm too drunk for this shit’ ” 

“Sounds like a pretty good descriptor to me,” Alex chuckled, beginning to walk towards the door with John. “Thanks for helping me with my stuff” 

“You’re welcome, though I didn’t really do much,” John said, stopping right outside the door. “I hope I’ll see you again?” 

“Yeah, maybe when Philip’s had his fill of the city. He’s never been here so that might take a little bit” 

Smiling, John turned towards the stairwell at the other end of the hall, waving over his shoulder. Hamilton waved back smiling, then turned closing the door behind himself. He surveyed the room signing at the mess. This was going to take a bit.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to update this thing weekly but I’ve decided right now that bi- weekly is how it’s going to go down cause I’m impatient.

Astonishingly they managed to arrange their bedrooms so they were at least livable in two hours, which would have to be enough because Philip was complaining very loudly about how hungry he was. Not that Alex wasn’t hungry himself - or rather, he knew he should eat even though he really didn’t feel like it. But his boy needed food so he would arrange that. 

It was about a ten minute walk to the nearest McDonald’s, which was both good and bad. Good because if Alex was ever feeling too lazy to make dinner, he had an easy solution, but bad because Philip would ask for it. A lot. And while Alex was a stubborn person, he sometimes had a hard time saying no to his kid. 

They decided after getting their food that their new home was preferable to eating inside the dingey McDonald’s. Or rather, Alex decided and Philip begrudgingly agreed. Alex would’ve been willing to say yes to Pip asking to eat inside of the restaurant rather than at their apartment if the place hadn’t looked like it was violating multiple health and safety laws just by existing. Not that that wasn’t common for McDonald’s, but this one in particular seemed especially decrepit. There were exactly two tables and they looked like they hadn’t been washed in years. And the tables had nothing on the floors and walls. Alexander would rather be shot than eat there and he would be damned before he let Pip even sit there. Just because he lived there again doesn't mean he was willing to adhere to New York’s level of cleanliness. 

So they made their way back to their apartment, Philip swinging his happy meal excitedly, while Alex held their drinks. The sun had dipped far enough into the horizon that the buildings around them cast deep shadows, so the street lights were on, and the city was alight. Philip looked around in wonder, seemingly trying to absorb the entirety of the city with his eyes. 

“Pa, this place is so big!” Philip gripped his arm tightly, eyes shining. 

“Yeah, it really is Pip,” Alex sighed, a smile on his face as he watched Philip wonder. “We live here now, so we’ll have time to explore” 

“Yeah, I know! Which is super awesome and really wanna do that soon,” Philip exclaimed, dragging Alex down the sidewalk “but right now I just wanna eat,” 

After their first week off, it was time for them to settle into a routine. Philip was starting out in westover elementary school, which was about a fifteen minute walk from their place. So on Monday Alexander woke Philip up an hour before school started, they ate a large pancake breakfast that Alex had prepared beforehand. Then thirty minutes before school was to start, the two began walking. 

Alex wished to be at the school earlier thang would be normal, as he intended to meet Philip’s new teacher. It wasn’t a particularly interesting walk for the first part of it, they were surrounded by apartments for the most part and so there was only the occasional convenience store breaking up the buildings, as well as a particularly interesting looking hole in the wall book store that Alex promised both Philip and himself he would come back to. Children and adults alike had begun pouring out of the apartments around them, many headed in the direction as the Hamilton’s. 

“Hey, uh, dad?” Alex very nearly physically starts. Philip rarely called him dad. Even when he crawled into Alex’s arms after a bad dream or something of the like, he referred to him as Pa. Alex turned to look at Philip, looking over his son with concern. He hadn’t noticed before, as he had been trying to weave through the crowd of people, but Philip’s grip on his hand had tightened, and he was staring at the ground in front of him. 

“What’s wrong Pip?” Philip looked up from the ground, his eyes glassy as he shuffled closer to Alex. 

“I - I’m scared” Alex felt his heart metaphorically shatter at the hesitance in his voice, the genuine fear in his eyes at the thought of his new school. Philip had always been his bravest child. Angelica was his creative sunshine girl, and Alex jr. was the smart ass. So to see Philip, who so often had a smile on his face looking nervous at this major change, was both expected - at least it should have been, how did Alex not see this coming? - and saddening. “You know, it’s a new school new city but I don’t know anyone and-”

Philip cut himself off with a sniffle. 

Rather than replying, Alexander pulled Philip over closer to the apartment complex they were by and knelt down by him. Tears were now cascading down Philip’s face, as he let out soft hiccuping noises. Without a word Alex pulled his boy into a fierce hug rubbing his back softly in comfort. 

“It’s okay to be scared. This is a new and crazy experience.” Alex murmured comfortingly against. “I know when I first came to New York I was terrified.” Terrified was a mild way to put it. Alex had been on the verge of a mental breakdown for weeks after coming to New York, barely able to think coherently for the first week. “You’re being so brave.” 

Philip sniffled again and clung to Alex’s shirt pulling him closer for comfort. 

After a couple of minutes, Philip had calmed down a bit. He pulled away from Alex, rubbing at his eyes and nose to try and get rid of the tears that remained there. Hamilton was rubbing his son’s shoulder now, smiling comfortingly in his direction. He gave Pip some time, letting him talk when he was ready to. 

“I think I’m ready now” he was standing straighter, and while his face was a bit blotchy, he looked determined. 

“Shall we go then? I think we should be able to see the school soon. We’re pretty close”

“Yeah. Yeah, let’s go pa” 

The walk to the school took another five minutes, leaving five minutes until the school officially started. Though technically as this was the first day of the year the classes wouldn’t start for another half an hour. 

Pulling a printed sheet out of his pocket, Alex looked it over trying to find what class Philip would be in. Underneath all of the legal jargon that Alex had carefully studied in the weeks before he enrolled Philip in this school, there was a section labeled student information with class number and teacher name being at the top of the section.

Martha Manning - classroom 236.

Slowly weaving their way through the throng of students, Alex studies the plaques above the doors, figuring out the direction of the class numbers and attempting to gage the layout of the school in his head. They went up a Small flight of stairs, and headed in the direction Alex assumed the class was. 

After going down a wrong hallway once, they made it to room 236, and stepped into the room. 

Now, the hallways in the school were busy, they were packed with children and some parents headed to classes, screaming and shouting directions, but the hallways, at least, were long and fairly open. The classroom the Hamilton’s now in was small and closed in, with children shouting in glee, and dismayed parents shaking their heads. It was mildly overwhelming, especially seeing as eight year olds are some of the noisiest beings on the planet. 

Rather than focus on the screeching children however, Alex narrowed his eyes and searched for Ms. Manning. It took a few moments, but after a couple cleared away from a woman in an ash coloured blazer, Alex was nearly certain she was Ms. Manning. 

“Pip, I'm going to go talk to your teacher, why don't you go meet some of your classmates.” Alex suggested, giving him a soft nudge on the back. Philip looked up at his dad, around the room. He looked more at ease now that they were in the classroom, the anticipation of going to school dissolving now that he was there. Without another word, Philip rushed into the throng of his peers milling about, throwing a smile over his shoulder at his dad, before he excitedly began to introduce himself to a young girl with her hair in two French braids. 

Alexander smiled softly in the direction of his son, happy that Philip was happy. He then swiftly walked over to Ms. Manning, appearance calm, while his mind raced through the different things he could start out their conversation with. There were only about five other parents in the room now, so it was mostly just children speaking or shouting, as such the noise level had gone down a few decibels. 

“Ms. Martha Manning I presume?” Alex was stopped in front of the woman now, holding his hand out to shake. 

“That would be me,” she said a soft smile on her lips. She grasped his hand to shake it, her grip more firm than she was expecting, though he didn’t let the surprise show on his face. “And you are?” 

“Alexander Hamilton, I’m Philip’s father” 

“Ah, pleasure to meet you sir,” she replied smoothly, turning her head to look at where the children had amalgamated, possibly to look for Philip, but also possibly to just check on the kids. “I do believe any information you might need was on the form sent to all of the parents, but if you have any questions the school number was definitely on the sheet.”

Alex inclined his head, smiling warmly at her before turning to say goodbye to Philip.   
Pip was still talking to the dark skinned girl with the tightly woven French braids talking loudly and gesturing wildly as he did so. The girl, for her part, while seeming content so converse, was not so enthusiastic as Philip. Though- Alex thought, grinning fondly- very few people were as enthusiastic as Philip when he really got going. 

Waiting for Philip to take notice without Alex shouting for his attention, Alex stood back a few feet from the two young children, watching their conversation silently. It took a few moments, but eventually Philip’s eyes swept over to Alex and his smile practically doubled in size, an impressive feat considering how he was smiling before. Smiling back, Alex crouched down, his knees cracking in protest and motioned for Philip to come to him. Catching on, Philip rushed forward, nearly dive tackling his dad to the floor in a hug. However Alex had prepared for this possibility and had steadied himself beforehand so as not to fall over. So when Philip made contact he only wavered slightly. Though Philip crashing into did significantly decrease the amount of air going into his lungs. 

Once Philip was done hugging the life out of Alex, he pulled back, still smiling broadly.

“Bye Pa!” Alex smiled. He was glad Philip seemed to be more comfortable. Though Philip had always been more at home surrounded by people. 

“Bye Pip. I’ll see you tonight.” The start to the day wasn’t half bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaron Burr, sir!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We meet Aaron and Theo.

It took him longer to get back to the apartment than it had taken to walk to the school. He made his way into the building and up the narrow stairway that stopped at each floor. He would have taken the elevator but, like John had said when they first arrived it had gone out of service only two days after living there. 

He stared at the faded and chipped red brick along the right wall as he climbed the stairs. He tried to focus his mind on the bricks instead of how tedious the climb was, how quiet the stairway was. It worked on and off. For a few moments all he would think of was how right above the cold metal railing halfway up this flight of stairs there was a gray brick rather than the different shades of mahogany that filled the rest of stairwell. Then his mind would drift, bringing thoughts of unhelpful nervousness concerning his new job next day, and unfounded worries of Philip. As well as many other unnecessary tangents his brain would create. Then he would have to tear his mind away from the unnecessary thoughts and back to the chipped bricks beside him. 

His walk up to the fourth floor was slow and methodical, but he made it up in an undetermined amount of time. He walked to his door, one of three other apartments on his floor and fumbled for his keys to open the door. 

He stepped into the unlit apartment and looked around. He figured he ought to do something, but he also wasn’t sure he wanted to. Alex closed the door behind himself, engulfing the apartment in nearly complete darkness, only cut by the light from the window in Pip’s room that was peeking out from underneath his door. 

Letting his eyes adjust to the dark rather than turning on a light, he spun in a slow circle, trying to find something that would catch his eye and encourage him to do something, as he felt lethargy tug at his whole being like cobwebs. He didn’t want to be dragged down by this feeling, but the past weeks excitement seemed to catch up to him from one breath to the next. Hell, the past six months seemed to physically drag his shoulders down with their weight as he stood in the small living room. 

Yet, with more mental effort than should have been required, he pulled himself away from the couch and towards his small desk that he had set up in his room. He sat down on the rigid chair he had as a stand-in office chair with a grunt, less so sitting and more so letting his body drop. Rather than open up his laptop as he has vaguely intended to do when he has moved over to the chair, he just sat there and stared at it. It was a rather unproductive use of his time but he couldn’t force himself to move. He was stuck on the floral pattern, arms limp and head bowed. 

Alex wasn’t sure how long he had been sitting like that, though considering how much his back hurt it had been at least twenty minutes by the time he forced his heavy limbs to move. He slowly opened up his old laptop, closing his eyes quickly at the bright screen that cut through the dark of the apartment. Limbs moving at a snail's pace, his mind even slower, he began writing. It started out as a piece on nothing, incoherent ramblings about the state of the world, but as an indiscernible amount of time passed, his mind began moving faster and his movements sped up. Next moment he registered thinking in the first person again he was closing his laptop, the time nearing 2:30 in the afternoon and he now had a complete 100 page essay on the inequities in America faced by people who differed from the social ‘default’ of cis straight and white. He sat back, stretching his arms behind his back, his shoulders popping at the motion. 

Standing up from his chair, he moved to the kitchen and looked through the fridge, attempting to plan something for dinner. Unfortunately they didn’t have much, as they hadn’t gotten many groceries when they had gone shopping last week. So, Alex improvised, pulling out some noodles and canned pasta sauce and putting it on the counter. It wouldn’t be very healthy, but it was easy and cheaper than take out. 

~*~

After an hour of tidying up the apartment so he wouldn’t have to worry about it for the rest of the week, Alex left to go pick up Philip from school. When he got there, he found Philip waiting for him outside, talking to the girl from earlier. 

Walking up, he waved to Philip attempting to get his attention. Philip, however, was so engrossed in his conversation with the girl that he didn’t notice Alex until he was beside him laughing, which caused Philip to startle, which made the girl jump slightly as well. She must have been just as enthralled by the conversation, though her face didn’t show the same excitement as Pip’s. 

“Pa!” Was Philip’s first reaction when he realized who was laughing beside him, turning away from the girl and towards his father. His next reaction was to hug him fiercely, arms around Alex’s waist. He pulled back just as quickly, a big grin across his face. 

“Hey Pip,” Alex said, pulling away to pick Philip's backpack up from where it had been unceremoniously dropped. “How’s your day been?” 

Philip practically vibrated talking about his day, explaining how they had done warm up activities to get to know each other, and they had started an overview of math. He talked about recess and lunch, and how kind ms. Manning was. However his favourite subject to chatter, was the girl standing beside him shyly. 

“This is Theodosia, Pa, though I just call her Theo. We started talking this morning then we agreed to be warm up buddies and now we’re the bestest of friends”

Theodosia smiled up at him, waving softly, and though her face didn’t exude any discomfort, her shoulders were hunched over. In an attempt to appear more friendly, Alex smiled at her, hoping it looked kind, and didn’t make the girl more uncomfortable.

Before he could inadvertently scare the crap out of the child, a vaguely familiar voice called out from behind him. 

“Theo, are you ready to head home?” 

Alex turned around, looking for the person who had shouted out to Theodosia. He was met with a very familiar face striding towards him, Philip and Theodosia. 

“Aaron Burr, sir!” Alexander shouted, a grim spreading across his face. “Fancy seeing you here.” 

Burr stopped dead for a moment, a look of pure shock on his face, which was rare of the burr he remembered. The Aaron he had gone to college with always seemed to have his face schooled to the mode: it smells like a public restroom in here but I don’t want to seem rude so I’ll just wrinkle my nose a bit and try to hide my disgust. 

After a moment of shock, Aaron seemed to register that it was none other than Alexander Hamilton and not just some creep. However, rather than the scowl Alex has expected to cross Aaron’s face, Burr’s face lit up, a smile spreading across his face. Aaron must have had something good happen to him, as he seemed to express his emotions more. 

“Well I’ll be damned. If it isn’t Alexander Hamilton.” Aaron had finished crossing the schoolyard, and was now standing beside Theo, whom he had given a quite hug before speaking again. “I though you had had enough of nyc and had gone away forever. What are you doing back here.” 

Alex grinned crookedly

“Well I’ve missed the hustle and bustle of the city, sir,”

Aaron laughed in reply, hands on his hips, which bunched his navy blazer in strangely. 

“Your “Burr, sir” jokes still suck Alexander” 

“Yeah, well your sense of humour still sucks Burr,” Alex replies childishly, before laughing.

Theodosia and Philip had shuffled away a bit, during their banter, the two exchanging confused glances. It was apparent they had no clue what to make of their parents getting along, and apparently knowing each other prior. The two began whispering to each other, every once in a while glancing back at the two adults who were now catching up. 

“So what are you up to these days burr? Still with Theo- Sr.?” 

“I sure am Hamilton,” Aaron said smiling dreamily. “We’ve been going strong since our final year of college and we got married about nine years ago now.” He smiled softly down at his wedding band as he spoke, twisting it as he did so. “how are you and Eliza then?” 

“We-ah, we finalized our divorce this spring.” Now it was Hamilton’s turn to look down at his hand, his however was bare of any rings, only serving a nice whole helping of guilt. He had actually sold his wedding band the week after the divorce, trying to both gain some closure, and some more money to pay child support. It didn’t so much give his closure as make him break down crying as soon as he had arrived back at his apartment, guilt and self-loathing eating him up whole. Luckily Philip was at school when that had happened. 

Aaron looked mildly uncomfortable at this, seemingly unsure of what to say. Not that there was really anything to say.  _ I’m sorry?  _ But it was Alex’s fault.  _ That’s too bad?  _ Sounds disinterested and unsympathetic. There was really no ideal way to go about it, so they just stood there for a moment, watching their kids move further away from them to keep talking. Their attempts at whispers, particularly Philip’s was the same volume as their speaking voice just raspier. Not that Theo was ‘whispering’ much to begin with, it was mostly Philip doing the talking. Which rather seemed to be their whole dynamic. 

Smirking, Alex glanced from Philip to Aaron, seeing that the man beside him found Philip’s whisper just as amusing as he did. 

Their calm, however, didn’t last long, as, surprisingly, Theodosia took it upon herself to shut Philip up. By licking her hand and patting him on the cheek. Which made Philip screech like some sort of deranged chimpanzee, very loudly. He hopped back, swiping at his cheek with his sleeve, while Aaron and Alex nearly fell over laughing, with Theo looking quite proud of herself a few feet away. Alex was bent over, holding his stomach at the indignant look Pip was giving both him and Theodosia, while Aaron was attempting to stabilize himself by placing his hand on Alex’s back. It took a few moments to collect themselves, with the two nearly in Hysterics again when Theodosia walked over to when Philip stood and patted his shoulder condescendingly.

Thankfully they managed to school themselves into ‘proper parent’ expressions by the time their kids came back around to them. Not that it really mattered as both Philip and Theodosia shot the men a look that said ‘you know it’s incredibly rude to point and laugh’, which made both men’s mouths twist into a smile once more because it’s hard to be intimidated by someone who is barely four foot two and whom you also saw birthed. 

It was, unsurprisingly, Hamilton who spoke first, barely keeping the laugh out of his voice.

“I see You and Theodosia are getting along quite well, Pip.” This made Philip glare at his Dad and attempt to inconspicuously wipe his face once more. He didn’t seem angry so much as thoroughly embarrassed.

“I guess so”

Theo laughed lightly, nudging him with her shoulder. 

“Common, Pip, it wasn’t that bad” 

Alex always found it wild how quickly children made friends, especially Philip, who seemed to gather friends left right and center. Supposedly that was normal, at least that’s what Eliza has told him.  _ “Most kids weren’t you dear,”  _ she’d say, a smile gracing her lips every time he brought it up with each of their children.  _ “I remember when I was his age, I had so many friends at my birthday party that I needed three cakes just so there was enough for everyone. It’s because no one cares about popularity or that they might be rejected, they just think it’s nice to talk to other people”.  _ Alex had always kind of thought that Eliza might have been exaggerating. He remembered only having one or two close friends at that age, and he’d met a few people with the same experience. He at least partially suspected that Eliza had just always been a magnetic person. 

But looking at Philip now, seeing how simple he and Theodosia made friendship seem, made him wonder if he had assumed wrong with his ex-wife. Laughing and chatting easily even after just one day was a strange concept, but nice nonetheless. 

“Hey Pip, we should probably get going soon bud” Alex said, looking down at his watch, his eyes widening at the time. He really hoped supper wouldn’t take too long to cook. He hated eating late with Philip around. Philip himself looked crestfallen at the prospect of leaving his new friend, but he nodded anyway.

“We should probably head off too Theo,” Aaron said, reaching to grab his daughter’s hand. “Your mom’s gonna wonder where we went” 

“Perhaps we can arrange some sort of play date for the two of you sometime” Alex offered, trying to placate the puppy dog eyes Philip was giving him. 

“Yeah?” Philip and theodosia both spoke at the same time, both sounding eager. Aaron and Alexander exchanging a look, an unspoken question of ‘is this fine’. Neither was gonna say no. 

“Of course,” Aaron replied, looking back towards the kids, “but until we figure something out, you’re both going to see each other at school tomorrow.” Aaron was surprisingly good at parenting, Alex thought with a snort, he had the ‘soft but no room for objection’ voice down pat. “Say goodbye now Theo”

“Bye, Philip.” She said, suddenly shy, “I’ll see you tomorrow” 

“Yeah! Bye!” Philip’s goodbye was much more enthusiastic, with a whole lot more hug involved.

As the two parties separated and left to go to their respective homes, Alex’s first thought was  _ thank god Theo’s family is one I know. Less new people the better.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed. :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here comes the general!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Washington’s in da house, and he is tol and scary. I have no hands on experience with how journalism companies hire, so I may have fudged this, I’m sorry.

The next day was Alex’s interview at a journalism company. The place is far enough that he has to take the subway, hopping onto the closest station after dropping Philip off outside his school. The subway is overflowing, ranging from incredibly sketchy people, to polished businessmen who look incredibly out of place. Alex is stuck standing, holding onto the bar, surrounded by people, which wouldn’t be too bad if it weren’t for the fact that half of them seem to have forgotten that deodorant exists. This only served as a reminder as to why he had bought a car in the first place. Too bad he had forgotten to get gas the last time he had used it. 

Thankfully, he made it to his stop with minimal psychological damage, only really needing another coffee. Which he promptly got as soon as he saw a small coffee shop. His next stop was the rather tall office building, his new possible workplace. He was on time, he wasn’t late. That didn’t make him any less nervous.

He had taken the time when he was hired for the job, to research the establishment, particularly the higher ups and how it was run. He was pleasantly surprised. Obviously he had ensured that the place wasn’t incredibly conservative before he had even sent in his resume, however when looking over the higher ups, he found even individually there was a fair amount of diversity. A good portion of the office, both desk jockeys and management was of colour, and there was a good amount of lgbtq+ representatives, with even one manager being in a same sex relationship. 

However his own personal boss was a difficult matter. Not that he seemed to have any predejusts or anything of that sort- though he could be more subtle about it - rather it was about how intimidating the man was. George Washington. A man who had previously been a general in the military before his honorable discharge fifteen years into his career. He came from old money in Virginia - one of those families that had owned slaves before the civil war and had cultivated their fortune during the next years sdo that with interest it had grown exponentially. He was a big enough name, that he even had a small Wikipedia page. Which, of course, is the true test of one's fame. So Alex was more concerned that he wouldn’t be lenient with Alex’s single fatherhood life, which might crush both him and Philip. Alex refused to be the absentee father he had had growing up, which meant he needed to have a few exceptions made. 

Alex realised that his fears may be unfounded. Maybe Washington was an extremely kind man. It’s not as though single parenthood was uncommon, so they probably had other parents working here as well, however Alex still felt weary. He remembered the struggle his mother had being single and caring for children. She worked hard and often, trying to keep him and his brother afloat, keep them off the streets, and keep them fed. All as a single mom, balancing her three minimum wage jobs, barely around to give emotional support. So many of her employers refused to accommodate for her request to have time with her kids, and Alex knew it could fuck you up. It fucked up James. He ran away as soon as their mom died, getting addicted to multiple hard drugs on the streets, never to be seen again. Hell it fucked up Alexander. The constant fear everyone he cares for would leave - though that wasn’t just his mother's absence- his fear that he was never good enough, his therapists told him that could all be traced back to his mother’s absence and death. Alex refused to subject Philip to that. He would sooner send him back to Eliza, let him live comfortably and leaving Alex to fade away before he would let Philip feel alone like he had. He swore that he would never leave Philip, physically or emotionally. He had sworn that when each of his kids was born, holding them gently and whispering it into their ear, and he had broken that promise to all but Philip. His last promise not broken. His only promise not broken. 

As he stood in front of the building worrying his lip, he took a deep breath in, gathering himself, refusing to fall apart, and stepped in. 

He was met with a fairly empty room, people moving around, heading up stairs and through doors. Yet barely any furniture. The only substantial piece was a large reception desk at the north end of the room, shelves and filing cabinets all along the back. A man and a woman sat there, both in front of computers, staring intensely, mostly oblivious to the hustle and bustle of people moving to and fro. Only looking up if someone was asking for them. 

Alex strode confidentially forwards, towards the desk, preferably to ask for directions to Washington’s office. He was blindsided, however, by a strikingly familiar face running right into him. The collision nearly made both men fall over, surprising them. As it was, now both of their shirts and blazers were rumpled, which irritated Alex to no end as he had just ironed it the night prior. However Alex decided to brush that aside for the time being to greet the man who had almost run him over. 

“Aaron Burr, sir!” Aaron looked shocked at Alexander’s being there for a moment before looking thoroughly exasperated. 

“Alexander.” It wasn’t so much a question or statement so much as a sigh of disappointment. “I’d say I’m surprised to see you here, but I rather think I shouldn’t be.” 

Most people would have had the dignity to at least look indignant at Burr’s statement, but Alex just looked proud of himself. His favourite pastime with Burr was disappointing or otherwise confusing and confounding him.

“I’m offended Burr! Your tone suggests you’re not, in fact, happy to see me,” Aaron rolled his eyes, already readjusting to Hamilton’s dramatics. Being away from Alex for so long makes one ajust to a more silent existence. “Unfortunately for you, you’re stuck with me now.” 

“Well, depending on where you’ll be working I may not be.” Aaron sounded vaguely hopeful of this. Alex wasn’t sure what to make of that. 

“I’ll be writing articles under Washington, as well as some editing work. You know, if I get the job.” 

Aaron groaned, and it was hard to tell whether it was sarcastic, or genuine. Perhaps he had been hopeful of not working with Alex. It would have hurt if that wasn’t such a Burr thing to do. 

“Well I suppose we’re probably stuck together Hamilton. Though I do have seniority over you.” 

“Oh yeah, speaking of, how long have you worked here?” They had begun walking, going through a door that led to a drab stairwell going up. It certainly didn’t have as much character as the one in his apartment building with its plain gray walls and floors. 

“About five years now, maybe?” Burr appeared complaintive, his finger to his lips in a thoughtful pose. “It was just after Teddy’s third birthday party, so yes, nearly five years now.” 

Alex hummed in acknowledgement, staring at the walls and out the occasional window. It was quiet. A thought stuck Alex and he stopped walking. 

“You are takeing me to Washington’s office right? Not just leading me wherever ‘cause you’re a dick?” Burr laughed, which was almost rude, because Alex thought his question was a fair one. He was supposed to meet with Washington at 9:15, as soon as he got to work. It was currently 9:09 and Alex really didn’t feel like explaining to Washington why he was late. It wasn’t exactly the best impression to make on you future possible boss. It might make him reconsider phrasing his return email as an almost certain hiring. 

“Well I was tempted, but then I realized if you weren't hired due to being late, you’d get pissy and put the blame on me.” Alex put his hand to his chest in mock offence, scoffing dramatically. “Don’t be like that Alexander, you know you would.”

“Hmm, I wouldn’t put  _ all _ of the blame on you.” Aaron raised his eyebrow, most definitely not buying it. “Just most of it” that resulted in an eye roll, because his eyes were the only expressive part of his face. 

They were walking down a long hall now, doors to different offices lining each side. 

Presumably this was where all the big shots worked, because the floors and walls were pristine, as opposed to the lower floors. The floors there, while still clean, leaning more towards middle class high school hallways clean. You might comfortably sit down there, but you would probably avoid touching it with any bare skin. Whereas in the fancy upper level, Alex would almost be willing to eat off the floors. They were scrubbed clean, no footprints or dirt to be seen. Alex probably would have been more impressed if he hadn’t been in the Schuyler mansion before. 

Aaron and Alex stopped outside of a door near the very end of the hall. It wasn’t any different than the other dark wooden doors with brass handles that lined the hall, yet this one somehow felt more intimidating. It was possibly the fact that he was about to meet his new boss, but Alex could help feeling very small in front of this door, with its copper name plate (that was almost certainly real copper by the looks of the rust on the one corner of it) declaring this office  _ G. Washington _ ’s. 

“Well, this is the spot.” Alex shot a glare at Aaron, who looked smug and a little uncomfortable in front of the door with him.

“Thanks, Aaron, I can see that.” 

“Well there’s no need to be snappy Alexander” now Aaron was definitely looking smug. Probably because Alex was visibly displaying his discomfort. “Well, I should get back to work” 

Aaron was backing away now, presumably to escape Alex’s grab and strangle zone. Which might have been a smart idea, as Alex’s hands were starting to twitch. Rather than throttle Burr, however, Alex chose just to flip him off. Strangling a worker in front of his new boss’s office, would probably not give the best first impression. 

“Good luck Hamilton” Aaron shouts at him, now at the other end of the hall, clearly more comfortable away from Washington’s office. Alex takes a moment to wonder why Burr might be so uncomfortable around Washington, or perhaps his office, before he knocks on the door. 

It takes a moment, but when Washington does open the door, Alex immediately realised why Burr didn’t feel comfortable around Washington. The man was incredibly intimidating. For starters he was tall. Alex was on the shorter side of average for an adult male, with Burr being about an inch or so taller than him, but Washington towered above him. Now, it’s not like Alex hadn’t met tall people. Hell, most of his college friends were at least half a head taller than him, but Washington wasn’t just intimidating because he was tall. His ramrod straight back, perfect posture and neutral face stuck an imposing image. His dark eyes took in Hamilton and looking into them, Alex suddenly felt uncomfortably out of place and messy. His hair felt greasy and knotted, and he could help but notice how rumpled his suit was, the bags under his eyes probably extremely prominent. Alexander felt like Washington was looking right through him. As though he could see his every thought, could pinpoint all of his flaws. It was a disconcerting feeling. 

“Mr. Hamilton I presume?” Even his voice felt imposing. Like it was trying to get you to sit up straight without directly saying in. Seeing this man leading army soldiers was not a difficult task. 

“That’s me, Mr. Washington” Alex stuck his hand out first, going for a light handshake, but was met with what might have been a death grip from Washington’s side. It felt like his bones were being ground together. 

“Come in Mr. Hamilton, we have some things to discuss” the words would have made Alex nervous if he was already hired, but he couldn’t exactly be fired for a job he didn’t technically have yet, although with the way the email was phrased, they might as well have just offered the position outright. “Take a seat Hamilton,” Washington said, gesturing to a padded wooden chair that sat in front of his desk. 

The two men sat for a few moments, silence permitting the air. Mr. Washington seemed to be arranging his thoughts in some manner, as the silence didn’t feel malicious or tension filled, but it still made Alex uncomfortable, and he felt the urge to fidget, which he managed to at least partially squash down. To distract his mind Alex looked around the office, taking in the lack of clutter of furniture, leaving a mostly open room, it would have been very stifling had there not been so many pictures of what were presumably Washington’s friends and family. The floor might have been barren, but the walls were covered, nearly floor to ceiling in photo frames. Some of them Washington was in, but many appeared to just be photos of people who were probably important to Washington. 

“Hamilton,” Washington saying his name startled him out of his visual exploration of the office, Alex’s eyes snapped back to the man in front of him in an instant. “When you sent us your resume, in June, I wasn’t the first person to look over it. A man in the employment division looked over it first, and claimed he didn’t believe you were capable of working here. However, a friend of mine, Frederick von Steuben personally handed me your resume.” Alex felt Washington’s sharp gaze fall over him once more, peering into the metaphorical recesses of his soul. “When I was finished going over your resume and reference works, I had it arranged that the man who decreed you would not be fit to work here fired.” 

It was a statement to see how Alexander would react, he knew, but perhaps it was also Washington’s own strange version of a complement. Alex schooled his face to hide his shock, determined to not give his feeling out so easily. 

“I frankly think you are overqualified for the position you applied for, as both your university degrees and your works you published in your own time are anything to go by. So think of this as less of a scheduled interview, and more of a conversation.” 

“Thank you for the complements, sir, but I rather think I’m not overqualified for the position I applied for.” perhaps it was the strange atmosphere of the informal ‘interview’ or the fact that he was feeling less anxious, which tended to make him lightheaded if it happened too fast, but Alex was feeling bold in the moment. “So is it safe to ask that I probably have the job?” 

“I would say so, but I technically can’t tell you until the interview is done and we’re scheduled for about half an hour” Washington had a small smile on his face, which reassured Alex that the man in front of him was, in fact, human. “So, what would you say your greatest strength in the workplace is”

Washington began to ask Alex some more typical interview questions, which Alex didn’t exactly enjoy, but he knew how to work with these questions. The informal ‘interview’ that had been taking place prior was definitely lower on the scale of things Alex disliked, even though it had only been placed there right then. 

After a half an hour, Alex left the office, officially an employee under George Washington. According to the briefing Alex had gotten before leaving, he would start Thursday, though for the first two weeks or so, he would only be editing some other people’s articles,  _ to get used to the office  _ as Washington put it. However he would be getting an assignment - with a partner - soon after two weeks. And Washington was surprisingly kind about Philip, agreeing to meet with Alex before he started working to help arrange the hours. 

Alexander clambered down the stairs, to get out of the building, trying to remember the way. When he finally made it to the main office again, he took note that one of the secretaries seemed to be asleep. It was quieter than before, but Alex did manage to catch a glimpse of burr through one the glass side doors. They met each other’s eyes, Alex making a decidedly very childish face at Burr before smiling and giving a thumbs up and walking out the building. 

That could have gone worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why the hell are people reading this by the way? Like? It’s garbage that I have written a considerable amount of. I would like explanations. Either way I hope you enjoyed


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A night with the boys. + James Madison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whooo, another chapter

It was on Friday that Alexander met one James Madison. 

His first day had been rather uneventful, with the exception of Burr ‘accidentally’ dumping a half a cup of coffee on his lap, which led to him having to deal with the smell of coffee in his pants all day. Other than that inconvenience, he was really only learning the ropes of how the office was run, in part by burr, but also by another employee by the name of Elizabeth ‘ _ call me Liz _ ’ Sanders. It wasn’t an especially difficult job, though the mandatory method of editing was mildly convoluted to say the least. 

So walking in to start his day Friday was not nearly as anxiety provoking. It warranted a third cup of coffee, sure, but not worrying himself to death. 

He had dropped Philip off at the school 45 minutes ago, and had driven his newly refueled call to his workplace, taking another five minutes to find any parking. Thankfully he made it to his tiny shared desk in time, Liz waving at him in greeting. Her hijab was white with a floral pattern that day, the pale pinks and yellows of the flowers accentuating her dark skin and making her look warm and inviting, although from the short time Alex had known her, he found she often looked warm and inviting. Even when she was making fun of you. 

The two worked mostly in silence, sometimes taking a couple minute breaks to talk quietly. Before Alex was even aware it was suddenly the end of his and Liz’s scheduled hours and she was packing up. Putting her laptop into its foam holder and some loose papers she was using as reference into a folder. 

“Hamilton, I know you think it’s fine to miss lunch, but you might want to head out soon. Your kid’s going to be off school in…” she looked at the watch on her wrist, rolling up her navy blue sleeve to see the whole face of the clock. “About twenty minutes. You don’t want to keep ‘em waiting do you?” 

“Shit, you’re probably right,” he said, closing his laptop and shoving it roughly into his bag. 

“I usually am” she replied smugly, sweeping out the door dramatically, reminding Alex, somehow, of professor Mcgonagall. It might have been the attitude. Or the maxi skirt. 

Alex was quick to gather the rest of his things, shoving them hastily into his bag, attempting to go fast so traffic wasn’t too much of a hindrance. Hopefully. Probably still would be. 

In his rush to get out of the door to his current floor of the building, and out of the building in general, he didn’t think to look where he was going, and collided harshly with… something. He stumbled backwards, dazed, and nearly dropped his suitcase looking bag. The thing he ran into, presumably a human by how it stumbled back as well, looked up at him, eyes definitely narrowed in a glare. Oops. Alex preferred to keep office enemy collecting for week two. Alex went to go apologize, still a little confused by the literal run in he had just had, but the small man in front of him beat him to it. 

“Sorry.” Well, that was not what he was expecting from the glaring man. “I… I didn’t mean to run into you.” Alex was suddenly struck with the realization that the man in 

front of him wasn’t glaring, he was squinting his eyes in embarrassment. 

“No, no. It was totally my fault. I didn’t look where I was going and I was rushing, it’s my first week, and my son needs to be picked up from school and so I was trying to get out fast cause I wasn’t keeping track of time and you know how traffic in the city is-” Alex cut himself off, recognizing he was rambling. “What I mean to say is… my bad. Sorry” 

“No, it’s my fault too, I wasn’t paying attention either.” So this was going to be one of those conversations. Okay. 

“Why not meet a compromise and agree we’re both at fault.” He could practically hear Burr should about how this is the first compromise Alex has ever made. Which- rude. But that would be expected from Burr. 

Brushing aside thoughts of Burr making fun of him, Alex stuck out his hand in greeting, a grin on his face. “Alexander Hamilton, at your service, Mr…?” 

“Madison. James Madison, that is.” As the two shook hands, Alex took a moment to assess. And registered that Madison was a solid couple of inches shorter than him, which was almost impressive. Though he did wonder what it would be like to look at Washington from  _ that  _ height. “I still feel rather guilty about running into you, can I offer you a drink tonight?”

“Mm, I’d love to Mr. Madison, but I have family night with my son tonight.”

“I see, another time perhaps then?” 

“That sounds lovely, we can arrange something.” Madison nodded in agreement, dusting off his already dust free suit. 

Philip was outside sitting on the steps up to the school when Alex pulled out. It took the boy a few minutes to notice his father in the car in front of him, too busy fidgeting with something. A disgruntled expression on his face. When he finally did notice, a smile broke out on his face and he hopped to his feet.

He was in the car in record time. Throwing his bag into the back seats of the car. He still had whatever he was fidgeting with in his right hand, a rubix cube by the looks of it. 

“Hey pa!” Philip said excitedly as Alex put the shift into drive. 

“Hey Pip, how was school?” 

“Ooh, today was really good. We had gym today where we played dodgeball and we also started reading Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone. Plus Ms. Manning showed me this super cool thing called a rubix cube and she even let me borrow it for the weekend so I could try and solve it.” 

“Wow pip, that sounds like a really exciting day. But didn’t we already read Harry Potter together last year?” 

“Yeah, but it’s really good, and this time I can read it without your silly voices you make for the characters.” 

“I thought you liked my voices” Alex turned the car into the apartment complex parking lot. 

“They were funny” Philip said, laughing as he grabbed his bag “but I wanna read the books without ‘em” 

Alex hummed noncommittally, reaching to grab his work things after turning off the car and stuffing the keys into his pocket. 

“So what do you want for dinner tonight Pip?” Alex asked as they climbed the stairwell, Philip skipping up ahead of him. 

“Is it takeout night?” Takeout night was their bimonthly day where they chose one place to takeout food. It had been started long before Philip was born, when Alex and Eliza were first moved in together. Neither could cook every night due to the hours of their jobs, but they also couldn’t afford to pay for take out every night, so they agreed once a week. Then when Eliza went off of shift work they agreed to cut it down to once every other week, where it had stayed till Philip was born. Then the two had agreed to a family night every Friday, where every other week they would order in. Alex would adjust the hours he worked on Friday and he, Eliza and a month old Philip would sit down and watch whatever film they felt like, from Disney’s Cinderella to the Shawshank Redemption. And they had kept that up, almost every week for the next six and a half years. Until the  _ Incident _ a year and a half ago. They had tried starting it up again a few months after with the advice of the marriage counselor, but it was uncomfortable and jilted. 

Alex knew he was to blame for that, so after the official divorce Alex started it back up again with Philip. At first it was strange. It had been a while since they had done it and Philip had almost seemed confused that they were starting it back up again, but he soon grew to enjoy the day as much as he had before the  _ Incident. _ Alexander didn’t know if Eliza had revived the tradition in his absence as there was very little contact with her, only arranging times Philip would visit. There was no contact with his other children. Eliza was adamant on that. Philip could choose where he stayed, but the youngest were staying with her. If he had tried to refute it, try for even partial custody she would have had the best lawyer in New York on her side in a matter of moments with how rich her family was. So he had barely seen them, the last time had been in June, and it was September now. So he had no knowledge of what was happening in their home.

Alex realized he had been quiet for a moment too long and rushed to reply. 

“Well, I would say no, cause we had McDonald’s last week, but I think we can make today an exception.” It was also because Alex didn’t feel like making anything that night, but Philip didn’t need to know his Dad was feeling lazy. 

“Whooo!” Philip exclaimed, bouncing up the last few steps, to the landing of their floor. He pushed the heavy metal door open, the hinges squeaking as he tried to hold it for Alex. As he smiled at Philip he vaguely registered that Philip’s hair was no longer in the ponytail he had wrestled it into that morning. Which was going to be a pain to detangle later if the state it appeared to be in was in any way an indicator of how long it had been out of the ponytail. “Can we get some Chinese food?” 

Alex wasn’t sure what restaurants had good Chinese food in the area, but he had access to the internet and Philip seemed to really want it, so he agreed as he pulled out the keys to their apartment door. 

An hour later they were sitting in their messy living room, a couple different boxes of Chinese food in front of them on the coffee table and the round planet playing on their small tv, both father and son curled up in blankets. It was simple and cheap, and it was home. A new home with just Alex and Philip. None of the hustle and bustle Angie and AJ brought, and none of the chaos that was the siblings fighting, but it was home. 

They were about halfway through the second episode when Philip started to doze off. Usually it took the boy hours to get to bed, with all of the energy he had, he was full power 90 percent of the time and that included when he should have been going to bed. Thankfully though, the first week of school seemed to have tired him out and he was now sleeping peacefully with mediocre empty Chinese food boxes in front of him and his head resting on the arm of the couch, his feet on Alex’s lap. Seeing Philip asleep was always disconcerting because the boy was almost constantly expressing some emotions on his face, whether excitement, fear or anger it didn’t matter, so sleeping was one of the only times where Philip’s face was almost entirely neutral. 

It was nice, sitting with Philip this way. Both of them tired from an exhausting week, but they still managed to have time for each other. 

Once Alex was sure that Philip was completely asleep, he gently lifted him up, grunting quietly from the effort. Philip was nearly too heavy for this. He placed the freckled boy into his bed, taking note to remind him to clean his room soon. It was getting messy. When Philip was safely down where he wouldn’t roll off of the bed, Alex left to his own room, making sure to avoid stepping on any LEGOs that Philip had on his floor. Then he himself went and laid in his own bed, making an attempt to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not entirely happy with this chapter but I’m not sure why, so it’s going up anyway. Also, I have some reference images of what I Imagine these characters to look like at my instagram im_feeling.artsy_ if you want to check it out.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Playdate At the Burrs. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has over 10 kudos???? Tf? Thanks? Sm? Anyway, we meet Theo sr here, who is great. Also, I love Aaron for some reason. Idk why.

Breakfast Saturday morning was a relatively quiet affair considering how excited Philip had been when Aaron and Alex had told their kids about the play date they had arranged on Wednesday. The boy had been practically bouncing off the walls in glee, probably because of how long it had been since Pip had had a proper play date. But whether the reason was how long it had been, whether the fact that it was Theo, or even some other reason, Philip had been overjoyed at the time. And while he didn’t seem sad or disappointed at the moment, he was oddly quiet eating his off brand frosted flakes and sipping his orange juice. 

There were few sounds in the tiny kitchen that morning, some of them being the clink of the metal spoon on the ceramic bowl, or the sound of the coffee pot beeping and letting Alex know he could finally get some of that sweet sweet bean juice. But the most predominant sound was the quiet music of the radio drifting through the whole apartment. The radio was an old thing that he had bought (used) in college, which made it probably nearly fifteen years old. It sat by the coffee maker, quietly playing “the best of the 80’s” according to the radio host. Philip was humming along quietly to the clash. 

The quiet of the apartment continued after breakfast. Philip, after putting his bowl in the sink, went to room, mumbling something about toys to himself. After Philip left the small ‘dining room’, which was just a four person table that was both a little too small and a little too big for the space it was placed in, Alex refilled his nearly empty coffee mug, and went to his makeshift office in his room. 

Once sitting down, Alex grabbed the laptop that he had placed on the floor and pulled it out of its case. Typing in the password, he set to work on an article he had begun writing Thursday night after Philip had gone to sleep. It was a piece on the racial inequalities in the law in modern America. The apartment was still quiet, the radio drifting Queen and David Bowie through the air. The tapping of the keys on the laptop and Philip quietly playing were the only other sounds. It was peaceful, even if the city sounds filtered through, the downstairs neighbors, a group of college kids Alex believed, were beginning to stir and make some audible noise. 

At around 10:30, 45 minutes before the Hamilton’s were supposed to meet the Burr’s, the comfortable silence in the house was abruptly broken by a thundering sound coming from Pip's room. This was understandably concerning, and Alexander hopped to his feet, rushing to Philip’s room to see what happened. 

When he got through the closed door, he was met with an absolute disaster. It had gotten even worse this morning, the LEGO that had been condensed to the area rug was now everywhere, a couple of structures in its midst. Action figures that were previously in a small bucket on a shelf were now scattered around, some in the LEGO structures, but most were just apparently tossed around. The bed was even covered, the bedsheets having been pushed aside in favour of GI joes and LEGO figures. 

The LEGO and action figures were not the immediate eye catcher in the room however, rather, it was the three large bins that had been knocked to the floor, presumably the cause of the large thundering sound. The stuffed animals and other assorted toys that had previously been in the precariously shut boxes were now also on the floor spilling out. And, in the middle of all of the chaos, lay Philip, his curly hair splayed around his head, a dazed look on his face. There was fortunately no blood, which immediately made Alex a little calmer. 

Philip sitting up on his own with no apparent trouble was also calming, as well as the fact that he hadn’t fallen on top of anything, based on the fact that there was nothing under his back when he sat up. It was then that Philip noticed Alex standing in his doorway. 

“Hey Pa!” Philip was standing now, picking up one of the bins that had fallen and beginning to rummage through it. Apparently he was looking for something. Which meant the bins falling had probably been Philip’s doing, intentionally. “Can you help me find that one action figure? You know the buff lady in the tank top with the machine gun? I was telling Theo about it yesterday, how buff she is, but Theo didn’t believe me so I was gonna show her. But I couldn’t find her on my shelf of with the LEGO so she’s probably in here.” 

Alex sighed, rubbing his temple with his thumb and forefinger in an attempt to dissipate the headache he felt coming on.“You know you could have asked me for help before you knocked everything to the floor right?” 

“I thought I could get it on my with the chair.” 

Now, Alex loves Philip, he loved his boy with all of his heart, but sometimes he could be so incredibly impulsive. Before the divorce Angie would have discouraged doing dumb impulsive things, instead either talking Philip out of it or telling Eliza or Alex that Philip was about to do something stupid. Now though, there was no impulse control in the form of Angelica, so Philip had fallen and accidentally hurt himself more in the past four months than he had since Angie was two and he was four and he didn’t go a whole month without some kind of bruise somewhere. 

“Can you come get me next time you need something from one of these bins? I don’t want you hurting yourself Pip.” 

“Fiiine” Philip was probably going to forget, but there wasn’t much to be done about it other than ask. Alex really wasn’t looking to be a helicopter parent. 

“Well then, once you find your action figure, I want you to tidy up your room. It’s a disaster in here and I want to be able to take a step without injuring my foot before we head to Theos. We’re supposed to be there in...” Alexander checked his watch, I sure of the time “40 minutes, can you do that?” 

“Sure pa.”   


~*~

They were ten minutes late to the Burr residence, which was mostly traffic’s fault, but Philip was definitely cutting it close with him cleaning his room twenty minutes before they had to leave. Fortunately they were here now, in front of the Burrs actual home in upper New York.

Alex guestured ar Philip, encouraging him to go ahead and ring the doorbell to signal they were there. Before he could even make it to the steps up to the house, however, the door was flung open and Theo rushed out, practically tackling Philip into hug. 

“Hey Pip!” She seemed almost shy when she pulled back, stepping further away from Philip at a glance to Alex. Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail that day, Alex noticed, also registering that he hadn’t done anything with Philip’s mass of curls. 

“Hey Teddy!” Philip said enthusiasticly, grabbing her hand as they began to walk up the steps. 

Alex followed at a slower pace, waiting to see Aaron or Theodosia at the door to greet them. When he made it to the door. It was Theodosia sr. who was there to greet him, surprising him by pulling him into a hug. 

“Alexander! It’s been too long. How’ve you been? I know Aaron has seen a fair amount of you by how much more often he’s complained this week but he has yet to say anything of note.” Alex was currently squished into the much taller, much curvier Theodosia, and didn’t quiet have the thought process to coherently respond. It had been a long time since he had been hugged by anyone other than Philip. 

When she pulled back it was like getting the air put back in his lungs, her touch seemed to both burn and feel so very nice at the same time, so he took another moment to reply. 

“It’s been too long Theodosia. I’ve been well, just moved back to New York and am still definitely adjusting to the hubbub again. Moving is definitely a pain in the ass and I’m pretty sure we’ll be unpacking boxes for the next year but it’s nice to be back. How’ve you been.” 

“Oh, I’ve been well,” she said, leading him inside and to the living area down an off white painted hall framed with pictures. “I’ve been more busy with clients in the last three or so years, so I suppose my name is getting out there. I’m going to have to ask my boss if we can up my price a bit.” 

“Ah, so you did follow the lawyer path then? I had wondered if you were still working.” They were on the couch now, Philip and Theo jr. seated in the corner of the room looking at the action figures Pip had brought in. 

“Mmm, I was working with some historians and archeologists in Latin America for a bit after graduating and passing the bar, but eventually yes, I did settle down to work as a lawyer down at Pendleton and co. Firm. It’s certainly been a ride figuring out schedules with Aaron’s odd hours when he worked on and off for multiple news papers, and keeping life semi consistent for Teddy, but we’ve figured it out. It’s definitely been better since he got hired where he is now” 

“That’s good,” Alex said, uncrossing his legs and settling into a more comfortable position on the leather sofa. “Where is Aaron by the way,” 

“He’s just putting the groceries away in the kitchen, we desperately needed some more spices cause we were almost all out, and we needed some other things too. The fridge was lookin barren.” 

“Ah, okay, that’s probably a good plan. My fridge is looking a bit sparse as well as my cupboards and the rest of my kitchen. It’s a bit sad. So I might have to make a note to pick some stuff up.” 

“So what have you been up to these past few years. It feels like I haven’t seen you since your wedding.” 

“We probably haven’t seen each other since then, we did move away a couple weeks after, and you and Aaron were busy then.” The two kids were running past then now, a couple of Philip’s toys in hand, the rhythmic thuds behind them indicating they were going up the stairs. “But we really should have kept contact. Though I’m sure Aaron would have hated me texting him at 3 in the morning when the insomnia kicked in” 

“I wouldn’t have hated you, I would have just driven to your apartment and strangled you” Aaron said, now standing in the doorway. His sudden appearance was a bit startling but very in character for Burr. Alex almost had to laugh at the sweater vest he was sporting, but decided against it as Theo started talking again. 

“Still struggling with the insomnia Alex? It’s been nearly fifteen years, maybe more.” Theodosia asked, fully ignoring her husband's death threat. 

“Well, I had it under control for a few years, actually getting in six or seven hours on average, but then we had Angie, and while Philip is the wild one now, Angie was a loud baby. She demanded attention near constantly and old habits came back and I haven’t really been able to entirely shake them since.” 

“You getting six or seven hours of sleep is such an odd concept. I remember being your roommate in college and you barely got two hours.”

“Oh, I remember that. You practically lived on coffee, though I distinctly remember Aaron being just as addicted and getting like ten hours a night. At least you had the lack of sleep excuse, even if it was self inflicted”

“I resent that statement.” Aaron mumbled, crossing the room to sit on the love seat beside Theodosia. 

“I don’t think you’re allowed to considering between the two of us we probably drank two pots from the local coffee shop just in the morning.” 

“At least he’s owning up to it Aaron.” Theodosia said teasingly, poking her husband in the side lightly while Aaron muttered to himself quietly about ganging up and how Theo was his wife and how dare Alex come into his home and betray him like that, which caused Alex and Theodosia to laugh. 

“At least I didn’t mix red bull and five hour energy into my coffee Alex”

“Wait did you actually do that? I heard rumours about some of the crazy shit you did to be able to get all of your work done early, but did you actually mix red bull and five hour energy into your coffee?” Theodosia was leaning forwards in her seat, looking at Alex intently. Before Alex could reply however, Aaron did it for him.

“He sure did, I remember one time he put crushed up caffeine pills in it too, he was up for like a we-” Theodosia cut Aaron off, placing a finger on his lips.

“Aaron dear, I know you love talking my ear off, but I did ask Alex.” She turned to look at Alex, an apology visible on her face. “I’m sorry about him, he likes to act stoic and mysterious, but he always has something to say.” 

“So you’re now the one who has to talk less and smile more, is that right Burr?” Alex asked grinning. Which led to Burr grumbling some more through Theodosia’s finger that was still on his lips. “But yeah, to answer your question I was mixing a shit ton of caffeinated drinks to stay awake and work both on school work and personal writing. I think the actual effect of the caffeine from coffee stopped working like, second semester.” 

“There was that time you practically ODed though wasn’t there?” Aaron had apparently gotten over grumbling to himself enough to join back into the conversation.

“You mean the time I was up for a week straight not of my own volition?”

“Yeah, then you passed out halfway through Lee’s class right after presenting. That was the crushed up caffeine pills incident I mentioned, I believe.”

“Didn’t you have to call Herc to carry me home?” 

“Is that the time where Jefferson actually went up to you a couple days after to ask if you were good?” Theodosia asked, cutting in. “The whole campus was up in arms about whether that was just a rumour or it actually happened. Even the people who weren’t much for gossip were asking” 

“Yeah, I remember for the next like two weeks people would ask me if me and Jefferson were secretly friends or something.” 

“He actually did ask if Alex was okay, I remember you being both utterly confused when you came back to the dorm and also a little smug.”

“Well how else was I supposed to act? Jefferson was nothing but a bigoted dick all year and then suddenly he’s nice? Thoroughly confusing” 

“Alex it’s called being a decent person.” 

“But he hadn’t been before? He made fun of me on my mother’s death day when I told him to fuck off.” 

“It’s literally been years Alex, do you need to hold a grudge that long?” Theodosia had quieted down, watching the back and forth between the two as though they were a thoroughly confusing question to be answered. 

“It’s not a grudge, I just think about it often. Like the one time I accidentally tore my nail off in front of the hot barista and had to do the walk of shame to get a bandaid and avoid getting blood in my coffee. I think about that a lot as well and I’m pretty sure that’s not a grudge.” 

“...why?” 

“Anxiety?” 

“Ah” 

“So what have you been up to these past years Alex?” Theodosia asked changing the subject, “Last we talked was the wedding and it’s been way too long. I’ve talked about me, but what about you?” 

“Well before the divorce raising kids took up most of my time. Eliza working at the school meant that while she was on a similar schedule to them, but often she was exhausted by the time she got back from work, so when I got home from my old job, it was usually up to me to entertain them if they needed it.” 

“Boy do we know about that,” Aaron said, glancing at Theodosia. “though we only had Teddy, I couldn’t even imagine having to deal with three little monsters.” 

“God, I love them, but the three of them, especially when they work together, are absolute menaces.” 

“I think we were lucky with Teddy, most of the time she’s pretty good” 

“Mom are you and dad talking about me again?” Theodosia jr. walked into the room, Philip behind her, looking rather embarrassed at her parents talking about her.

“Well how else would we embarrass you?” Aaron teased, grinning in his daughter's direction. 

Theo covered her face, rushing across the room to grab whatever she came down to get then, then pulling Philip back up to her room as he laughed. While he giggled, apparently amused by his friend's embarrassment. 

“I think it’s funny that those two hit it off so well,” Aaron said as they left, a look of exasperated fondness on his face. “Considering the fact that neither had met before and didn’t know we knew each other. It’s kind of ironic really.” 

“Mmm, I didn’t even know Theodosia was the same age as Philip. I knew she existed, but I agree that it is kind of funny.” 

“Oh I forgot you had left the city before I had even realized I was pregnant. I was sure we had informed you of her birth date though...” 

“You probably did, and it just forgot. It is entirely possible.” 

“Or maybe we only told Eliza?” 

“Also possible. I think me forgetting is the most probable cause though. My memory is only useful for details on my kids, trauma and random facts.” Alex stated, a certain teasing lilt to his voice that had the Burrs chuckling. 

“I’d disagree but I remember multiple times you forgot that it was your birthday, but you could recite the periodic table backwards.”

”It’s not my fault that’s all high school chemistry taught me” 

“Alexander how do you forget your own birthday?” Theodosia asked in disbelief. Hamilton shrugged, unsure himself.

“I’m not sure.” The conversation stalled for a minute, all three going quiet before Alex stood up. “Well, I’m sorry to cut this short, but I trust you two to take care of Philip, and I have some things to attend to at home.”

“Oh of course, Theo said, standing up as well. 

“I’ll be back in a couple of hours then?” Alex asked, walking back down the hall from the family room to the front door. 

“Sure, around seven then? He can stay for dinner?” Aaron followed, his hands in the pockets of his pants. 

“Yeah that works, he’s lactose intolerant, but I don’t imagine that will be too big of a deal.” Alex said, slipping his shoes back on, before yelling up the stairs, “BYE PHILIP, I'M HEADING OUT NOW,” 

A shout was returned a moment later, Philip obviously a bit distracted doing whatever with Teddy.

“BYE PA! I LOVE YOU!” 

“LOVE YOU TOO, PIP,” Alex shouted back.

“Well we’ll see you later then Alex,” Theo said, pushing her long dreadlocks over her shoulder before pulling Alex into a hug. 

“I’d hug you Hamilton, but I don’t want to seem too friendly with you,” Aaron said jokingly before hugging him as well.

“See you later,” Alex called as he walked out the door, his goodbye echoed back to him as he left the burrs residence. And hopped into his car to head to the nearest grocery store.   


~*~

Alex got back to the apartment competition around an hour and a half later, some much needed food in hand to be haphazardly thrown in cupboards and the fridge. As Alexander wandered out of the parking garage and to the stairwell, he was hit with the force of another person. And Alex was shoved back with the force of it, causing him to stumble and nearly lose his balance. How many times he needed to be run into that week was an exceptionally annoying mystery to him. 

However when he raised his head to tell off the rather impatient person who had barreled into him, his was met with John, who looked just a little tousled and flustered. 

“Oh god, I’m so sorry Alex. I really need to stop nearly knocking you over. This is the second time we’ve met, and somehow the s fond time I’ve nearly knocked everything out of your hands. Sorry” as John needlessly apologized, Alex took notice of the bags under his eyes, and the rumpled nurses scrubs he was wearing. His hair had, by the looks of it, been roughly pulled into a ponytail, ignoring the knots that needed to be picked out of the curls. 

“It’s fine John, you’re obviously in a rush.” Alex said, feeling more calm at the person running into him being John. “Work busy?” 

“Oh god, when is it not? Even when there’s a slow night, I’m still usually given not many breaks. And the past few days have been horrible, and I came to crash at home for a bit, but I’m still on call, so just my luck, I’m called in on an emergency right as I’m asleep.” 

“That’s shitty.” 

“Yeah, but obviously I’m going to go, because budget cuts and I want to seem like a good worked they shouldn’t fire, plus I can always use the extra money with how expensive NYC is.” John pushed his fingers through his hair, probably a nervous habit, but he pulled back when he remembered that his hair was up. 

“It sounds like you seriously need either a nap or a coffee.”

“Oh god do I ever.”

“Well I know it’s obviously been a busy week, and that’s why we haven’t had much contact, but I would like to get to know you better. Can I have your number?” Alex would have smacked himself if that wouldn’t have made him look dumber. He felt like a guy at a bar asking for someone’s number. It wasn’t exceptionally embarrassing, but it was a jilted way of getting someone’s number. Thankfully John didn’t seem to notice. 

“Yeah sure, here” he said, grabbing for a sharpie he had shoved in his poker for some reason, and writing down his number on Alex’s arm. “ I don’t have paper with me right now” 

“I could have found some, but it’s fine.” 

“Shit yeah, sorry and it’s permanent marker-”

“It’s fine John” Alex cut him off, laughing. “ Just go to work and then please go to bed. Or go to bed at work if it’s slow. I know they keep cots for late nights there. You’re barely coherent.” 

“Shit, yeah that’s probably a good idea.” 

“Probably, now you should go before you’re late.” 

“Fuck, yeah, you’re right, bye Alex!” John shouted, rushing out of the building, stumbling over his feet once in his haste. 

“And I thought I needed more sleep” Alex muttered to himself, before climbing the stairwell with his groceries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can we get an f in the chat for John? He really needs some sleep. Also, idk if anyone has noticed, but me leaving alex’s journalism company nameless is mostly so I dot have to deal with using a real company name or making one up. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lafay- oh, nope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally in my outline Lafayette was going to actually have a real introduction this chapter, but I somehow fudged it so you’ll have to wait till next chapter.   
> Warning for a small panic attack around the middle.

Sunday was a slow day with the Hamilton’s the two mostly doing their own thing in the living room. It was silent, but in a comfortable way. It was as though both of their presences was reassuring the other silently. Yet, even though their actions and the time passing felt slow, the day sped by and it was suddenly Monday. Back to office work with Hamilton and back to school for Philip. 

Pip, while definitely open minded about school, was more resistant to going that Alex was with work. Sure, he didn’t want to get up, but Philip was in full pout that he had to go to do school work rather than speed through Harry Potter in his own time. Thankfully once he was up he was up, and it was a tad easier to encourage him to get ready. (His encouragement was that he could hang out with Theodosia.) 

So Alex walked Philip to school, which with the traffic was faster than driving, them he walked back to the apartment, hopped in his car, and prayed traffic wouldn’t be too bad on his way to work. 

Traffic was, in fact, so bad, that Alex was twenty minutes late, even though in theory he should have been ten minutes early even with some traffic factored in. It wasn’t an ideal way to start the day, but Washington was fairly lenient with hours and thankfully Aaron wasn’t too irritated at his tardiness and had, in fact, Aaron had bought Alex a coffee which officially made Aaron Alex’s favorite person, which he had to state aloud. This led to an offended Liz. 

“Well I guess since Aaron is your favourite I don’t have to get you a coffee for lunch like I was going to” she harrumphed, crossing her arms in overdramatized annoyance.

“Wait you were planning to buy me a coffee at lunch?” Alex said excitedly, looking up from the coffee he had been enthusiastically chugging. 

“No I wasn’t. I just wanted you to get your hopes up.” She replied smugly. Now it was Alex’s turn to react over dramatically, tossing his hands up in the air and turning to face Burr, who had apparently decided this conversation didn’t need him and he had to work, which led to him attempting to sneak to his personal office. He had the office both due to the length of time he had been working for the company, as well as the apparent quality of his work. At least that’s what Burr had told him when he had stormed in to complain about it the week prior when Liz had told him over their lunch break. 

“Burr do you hear this?” Alex whisper shouted. Trying not to disturb the whole office in his disturbing of Aaron. “She was the audacity to lie to me about coffee! How dare!” Aaron was nodding along, looking both thoroughly uninterested and like he was just nodding along to placate Alex. “This is why you can’t trust women with perfectly winged eyeliner. They’ll steal your souls and make you jealous of how the hell they look so good” 

“I’d say that’s rude and very generalizing, but you know what? I’ll take it as a compliment.” 

“Fine” 

“Fine” 

The two locked eyes for a moment, looking serious and peeved before cracking up. It was ridiculous and early and also Monday. Both were tired as evidenced by Liz’s barely visible eye bags expertly covered up by makeup and Alex completely uncovered practically purple bags under his eyes. A result of him being too focused on a short story he had decided to attempt just to see if he still could after all these years. He could, but he ended up staying up until four am working on it. When he had to wake up at seven.

After their laughter calmed, the two turned to their work, leaving Burr to walk off to his fancy personal office to work on his own articles that they would probably be assigned to edit knowing Burr. The silence after their laughter mostly continued, with the exception of the occasional lean over into each other’s personal space to ask about an edit. Normally Alex would hate someone he had know for only around a week to be so personal with him, but Liz was the kind of person who was just the right amount of loud and confrontational while also being very personable and charismatic, which led to her making friends with most everyone, everyone who agreed with her anyway. 

Lunch break rolled around much faster than Alex had anticipated, with Liz getting up and stretching her arms up, which caused her ‘ugly on anyone but her’ yellow cardigan to roll up a bit. Alex usually wasn’t one to take a lunch break as he found it disrupted his thought process and it took him a bit for him to get back into the flow of it, but he found that he was incredibly hungry, which was both odd that he was noticing it, and odd that he was hungry at all. So he too stood up to go with her to the break room, if only to grab a coffee, as he didn’t feel like leaving the building to get anything. Liz looked a little surprised that Alex was joining, as he hadn’t done so at all the week prior, she still smiled at him and began chatting about the wild date night she and her datemate had had that weekend. 

They were walking down the narrow hallway lined with private offices on their floor that led to the breakroom. Liz chatting with Alex occasionally cutting in.

“So this asshole, in the middle of Olive Garden, not only decides to try and hit on two female presenting people, but at the same time is insulting my religion? And in general being a huge dick with misgendering Pegs. So of course I go to tell him off,” a door opened in front of them as they passed by Burr’s office, and an agonizingly familiar face stepped out of the office, turned to face whomever was still in the office. 

Before Liz could continue her story, Alex darted into Burr's office, attempt to be fast enough to avoid the person in the hallway. This, along with the rushed closing of the door, unsurprisingly, startled Burr, who for some reason always took his lunch break exactly 21 minutes after everyone else. 

“Burr!” Alex hissed at him distressed, “You didn’t tell me Lafayette was back from France and in the area!” 

He moved to the corner of the room quickly, attempting to avoid the two translucent windows on either side of the dark wooden door. 

Burr looked at him with a confused expression on his face, seemingly trying to figure out why Alex was so nervous. It then hit Alexander that Aaron didn’t know. He didn’t know about the thing with Laf, because it had happened after they had moved. Which meant Alex had to explain to Aaron why he was avoiding the person who for years was his best friend, his confidant, practically his sibling. 

“Well I assumed you would have known” Alex was fully pressed up into the far left corner of the room, having shoved a potted plant out of its spot to further press himself there. “Obviously that’s not the case.” 

Alex would have told him  _ no shit _ , if he hadn’t been busy trying to both calm his breathing and figuring out how to explain his falling out with Lafayette without either distressing himself more or going to into too much detail and making Aaron decide to call Laf into the office so Alex would have to talk about  **it** and probably apologize **.**

He didn’t realize he was thinking himself into a panic until he found Aaron was in front of him, gently calling his name in a way that was so un-Aaron like that Alex was knocked away from the impending panic attack ever so slightly. Enough that he registered that black spots were dancing in his vision and he probably was getting enough air. When he was aware enough of his surroundings to make out at least the vague shapes of things. 

“Hey Alex, you weren’t breathing there for a moment,” Aaron was crouched in front of him, which Alex found odd until he realized he must have dropped to the floor at some point as they were still face to face. “You with me again?” 

“I- yeah” Alex said coughing a bit as his throat was dry. It felt like all of the moisture had been sucked out of his mouth like he was at the dentist. 

“You don’t have to explain, but can you get up so we can get you some water?” Again the concern in Burr’s voice was disorienting, it rather seemed like a paradox. Burr, while liberal in his expression of happiness, whether true or false, was never so forthcoming on any other emotions. At least while they were in college he wasn’t. Their years apart, or perhaps more accurately, with the Theodosias seemed to have softened him. Rounded out his jagged edges. 

Alex attempted to unfurl himself from the corner, his muscles aching and his bones cracking. His movement was jolted and he seemed so stop every other second. 

“Are you okay with touching right now?” Aaron asked, his voice still unnervingly soft. “It would probably make it easier if you had help getting up.” 

Alex thought for a moment, pondering the question. Even on the best of days Alex wasn’t one for casual touching. It made his skin crawl and his gut curl. After a panic attack was particularly bad for this sensation, as all of his senses tended to be heightened before the inevitable adrenaline crash. Even after going a while without someone to help him through a panic attack, Alex could still bring forth the memory of when he would be forced to make contact with someone else, and the pulse of blood through them, the heat of the skin, the fact that they were so, so  _ alive  _ made him nearly nauseated at the thought. 

So Alex shook his head, waving away Burr’s hand and struggling to his feet. As the two stood, the air seemed to still. A discomfort there, yes, but an odd camaraderie there as well. It felt like Alex was just now seeing Aaron not only as the person he was in college, but the person he was currently as well. It was discombobulating to put those two people together, for they were the same, but they also felt so different without having watched the transition firsthand.

It was cut through by Burr.

“You’ll have to face them eventually Alex.” If Burr hadn’t waited to make this statement Alex would have reflexively run, leaving the situation before Burr could make him confront Lafayette or something to that effect, but now as the energy drained out of him he just sagged. His posture was never really perfect, but now he was practically hunched over himself, loose yes, his arms and neck limp, but also curled into himself, unwilling to expose himself to anymore metaphorical hurt.

“Yeah, I know.”

“I’m not going to make you talk to them,” Aaron said, probably as some form of reassurance “but I know they’re close with Washington and if it’s not home to talk, someone probably will.”

Alex wiped his hands down his face and took a deep breath, wishing that he had an aspirin or something of the like to alleviate the headache he could feel coming on.

“I know Aaron, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.” Alex said, raising his eyes to glare at Aaron. “Besides. Maybe they hate me enough that they won’t want to talk to me.”

“Alex, I know it’s been awhile since you’ve seen them, but surely you know that Lafayette isn’t one to hold a grudge.” 

“Yeah, well I can dream can’t I?” Aaron hummed noncommittally, moving over to his desk to grab a water for Alex, as apparently Burr was the kind of person to keep six water bottles in his desk like a weirdo. 

“Well either way, you should probably either head to lunch as it seems you were going to, or go back to your own desk to keep working. You don’t exactly have you laptop here.” 

“Can I stay here a moment more? Just to insure they’re not in the hallway anymore?” 

Burr sighed, feeling much more like the Aaron Alex recognized from college, and nodded, gesturing for him to sit in the chair he had tucked away, because Aaron apparently needed to be prepared for every situation. 

~*~

He waited for another thirty minutes or so, past the end of his lunch break, only leaving when Burr kicked him out so he could go eat. Which led to Alex pouting, but agreeing. Mostly because Aaron threatened to lock him in the office until me came back an hour later, and Alex wasn’t really down to be that behind on work. 

So he left the office, peeking his head out of the door to ensure Lafayette wasn’t there like some sort of criminal looking for guards in a bad heist film. Luckily he wasn’t there, and Alex made his way across the building to his desk, where Liz was already sitting. This Alex worried because Liz was definitely one to hold a grudge, and he was suddenly reminded of the fact that he completely ditched her in favour of hiding. 

As he sidled up to the desk, trying to avoid any eye contact, he was viscerally aware of Liz’s eyes on him. Surprisingly she took her time to talk after he sat down and opened his laptop, encouraging a slim hope that she might not pursue that matter. This hope was dashed as soon as she started talking.

“So does one Gilbert de Lafayette coming up to me and asking your name have something to do with why you ditched me for Aaron earlier?” Straight to the point, Alex winced at the fact that Laf definitely saw him and now certainly knew he was here. Shit.

“Look, I didn’t mean to ditch you, my visit to Aaron was unprompted-”

“As most of your visits to Aaron are”

“And my reaction was pure panic.” He continued ignoring her (accurate) interruption. “So, to answer you question, yes, Lafayette was the reason I bolted out of there, I promise it wasn’t you.” She studied him for a moment, obviously thinking before she replied. 

“I wasn’t worried about you ditching me for Burr cause you didn’t like me, I mostly just wanted to see if you knew Lafayette. And to double check that you weren’t being homophobic or some shit.”

“Oh god no, that would be so shitty of me. Especially considering I’m apart of community myself.”

She hummed, still eyeing him, scanning him for something before she passed him a cup of coffee. His joy must have been obvious, as she laughed as soon as he laid his eyes on the cup. He made a grab for it, reaching across to her side of the desk, but she pulled it away, looking him in the eye, more serious than he expected.

“Talk to Lafayette.” She waited until he was nodding in agreement before handing him the coffee. She looked at him once more, before turning to do her work, taking a sip of her coffee and beginning to type. 

Alex also took a moment, taking a large gulp of the scalding coffee (with cream unfortunately, but Alex couldn’t begrudge Liz for not knowing his coffee tastes yet,) he stared at his computer screen, taking a moment to think about the Lafayette incident. He had had way too many  _ incidents _ with people he cared about in the past few years and though he wasn’t close to Laf anymore, he wanted to be close with them again, wanted to fix at least one relationship he had broken. 

So when the end of the workday arrived, before Alex left to pick Philip up, he walked to Aaron’s office, nerves in his stomach, but also a sliver of hope. 

He left with a phone number in hand, the hope burning a little brighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep forgetting to mention that Liz is based on Elizabeth sanders, Hercules mulligans wife. I needed some more female characters but most of the ones from the play are busy Doing stuff. Also, I really appreciate the support this is getting. I didn’t expect anything when I posted it, so I'm glad it’s actually being read. :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Mortier, Marquis de Lafayette is a lot for one person to write.

It was late that night when he called the number Burr had given him, hands shaking just a tad too much. It took three tries to get the number right, one attempt having led to an old lady in Detroit the other two not being active numbers. So when he finally dialed the right number he was holding his breath. 

Philip had already gone to bed, so it was just Alex, alone in his barren kitchen, desperately hoping that Lafayette was already asleep. Whatever bravery he had been feeling when he walked up to Aaron was overpowered by guilt and anxiety, gnawing at his gut painfully. The only light in the room was a dim yellow coming from a lamp in the living room. It cast an eerie glow on the kitchen, making it feel like something out of a horror movie. It almost made Alex want to laugh hysterically, like the dread he was feeling emotionally was being visualized, but that also could have been the nerves fueling that urge. 

Unfortunately his hopes were dashed as the sound of the phone being answered was heard, and the overly cheery voice of Lafayette answered the call.

“Bonjour, it’s Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette here!” Alex closed his eyes, taking a breath before answering. Before, the use of their full name over the phone would have been funny, but Alex was too distracted to laugh.

“Bonjour Lafayette.” The other end of the phone was quiet but for the buzzing of the phone, the silence caused the knot in his gut to churn and his throat tightened, his breathing shortening. 

“Alexander?” Lafayette was quiet, seemingly almost hopeful while also just a bit sad.

“Yeah” it was a breathy exhale. Barely audible as a word. 

“Alexander!” It was more enthusiastic than he had expected. Less angry. Less hurt. “How have you been mon amie! It has been too long.” 

“I’ve-” Alex took a breath, trying to rid himself of his discomfort. “ I’ve been good Lafayette. How have you been.” 

“I have been good! I got back from France last year, and as much as I love my country, America is just incredible.” 

“I mean it’s certainly something” 

“So what is the purpose of this call? I am very excited to hear from you of course, but we have not had contact for a long while.” Right to the point. The pleasantries dashed just as suddenly as they had begun. Lafayette had always been blunt, and he supposed that now was no different. 

“I wanted to be friends again.” It wasn’t the whole story, but it was the most important part. “I… I wanted us to be close again.” It's hard to be honest about looking for forgiveness, and it’s something Alex only recently realized he had to do if he wanted to keep stable relationships. And if someone didn’t want to forgive him, they were allowed to. Marriage counselling has been good for one thing. 

Lafayette was quiet again. The most unnerving part of talking to someone on the phone is the fact that you can’t see their face. You can’t read their expression. You can only talk and hope their voice conveys whatever emotions they’re feeling. Which is not great for someone already feeling way more anxious than on an average day

“It is not Eliza forcing you to do this?” Of course, Eliza having been his continence during their marriage was obviously not something to be forgotten and Lafayette was certainly not a person to forget details about a person easily. 

“No, no, we’re actually divorced so…” Alex left it to Laf to fill in the blanks, taking a seat on the counter in the process, lifting a knee up to his chest so as to sit more comfortably.

“Ah, well then I am sorry for implying that you would not seek me out of your own volition.” Lafayette was always at their most terrifying when they were quiet, and quiet Laf over the phone, where you’re unable to tell whether they’re angry or contemplative is even scarier. “So, I take it, that you were the one who bolted out of the hallway at Washington’s company?” Alex ignored the fact that Washington didn’t technically own the company to explain.

“Yeah. That was probably super rude and shitty of me, sorry.” If Lafayette was surprised by an apology coming out of Alex’s mouth (after not hearing one for over three years) he didn’t make any show of it, instead letting Alex continue to talk. “And… I am also sorry about what I said. I know it’s been years, and you don’t have to talk to me again, but I’ve missed you. I was mad at you for the longest time, but after my divorce with Eliza, I realized I was pushing all of my own shit onto other people. And I’m sorry you were caught up in my shit.” Lafayette was quiet for a moment, which seemed to be a common theme in this conversation. 

“You’ve been talking to someone.” It wasn’t a question, but they were obviously expecting an answer, because Alexander Hamilton of even a year and a half ago would have been too stubborn to accept any form of help. 

“Yeah. I’d been talking to a therapist for a few years but it was only after the divorce that I started really  _ talking  _ to them. Not just ranting or bottling shit up.” Not that Alex could really see that particular therapist face to face anymore, they were back in their old town. He should really call her up to get some recommendations for ones in the area. He should really get back into that, especially considering he couldn’t afford the Celexa that had been prescribed to him. “Apparently they offer some pretty decent advice.”

That got Laf to laugh, a sound Alex genuinely hadn’t expected to hear again, a sound that lifted his spirits - even just a little bit - out of the dark pit they had sequestered themselves.

“Well I am glad you are getting yourself sorted out. I have also missed you” Alex didn’t expect that, didn’t expect Laf to miss his sorry ass. “Perhaps we can meet tomorrow at your lunch break? I know this lovely French cafe near your workplace that is to die for.”

“A French place really?” It felt like falling back into routine, a song and dance he didn’t know he had missed, nor still knew until falling back into it with practiced ease.

“Well, as much I love America, you know as well as I that the food here is mediocre at best. Certainly at least they know how to season their food, but that is about it.” Alex and Lafayette laughed, the steps an easy cercle, left, right, your move. 

“I’d disagree, as that’s a very general statement, but when I went down to Puerto Rico a few years ago, I had their regular cuisine and it was definitely better than any of the food chains exclusive to the states not based on some other country’s food.” 

“See? I am not wrong.”

“Course not Laf, you’re never wrong.” The nickname slips out, an accident borne of habit, but Lafayette makes no note of it and Alex chooses not to make it a big deal. 

“So we shall meet tomorrow then?” 

“Sure. I’d love that.” Alex was smiling for what felt like the first time that day, even though he was sure it wasn’t. He rested his head on his knee, leaning forwards on the counter, but griping the edge to ensure he wouldn’t fall off. 

“Tomorrow then Alexander” Alex could hear the smile in Laf’s voice. The emotion having returned. 

“See you Laf.” As the call ended and the dial tone could be heard, Alex grinned and hopped down from the counter, the flame that had simmered low in his gut was hotter now, a small flame. He could fix this. He could.   


~*~

Walking into the cafe the next day, Alex was struck with just why Lafayette liked it. The whole place felt like every single quaint French café combined. With small metal chairs and tables placed strategically but not symmetrically around the counter. The clear display was showing some fancy looking cakes and tarts that just screamed fancy French café. 

Alexander found a seat in the corner of the cafe after getting a large cup of black coffee, choosing to forego any food due to the churning of his stomach. The cafe was mostly empty around him, lilting classical music floating through the air. The staff behind the counter looked bored, a younger, probably college age worker was sitting on the back counter munching on a granola bar. The only other people sitting in the cafe were a couple sitting by the door making bedroom eyes at each other. 

It was ten minutes after their scheduled meeting time when Lafayette finally arrived. They swept into the café, looking to all of the world like someone who had just walked off a runway. For as long as it had been, Lafayette looked good. Their makeup had improved by leaps and bounds, cheekbones highlighted to hell and eyeliner perfectly winged. The heels they were wearing clicked on the floor, which they were rocking with their dark blue blazer and dress pants. 

When they spotted Alex sitting in the corner of the café, their eyes lit up and they power walked over to him. They practically threw himself into the chair across from Alex, their enthusiasm nearly palpable. 

“Alexander! I am surprised you actually showed up!” For anyone else that would have been incredibly passive aggressive, but Lafayette was entirely too enthusiastic for it to be angering. 

“Well I said I would didn’t I?” Alex said, resting his arms of the twisted metal spirals that made up the table. Lafayette smiles, leaning back in their chair and crossing their legs. 

“Well you are the type of person to avoid your problems at all costs.” 

“Oof, calling me out Laf,” Alex smiled in jest, disconcerted by the familiarity in their actions, the lack of any meaningful talk odd. 

“Well someone has to Alex. We both know you certainly won’t.” It may have been said jokingly but the jovially casual tone stung. An unintentional punch in the gut reminding him of how terrible he was. How terrible he still is. “So what have you been up to these past years.” 

“Not much really, other than my divorce with Eliza and my kids getting bigger. Oh I suppose you have seen them for a while have you.”

“Non! It has been too long since I have seen my surrogate niece and nephews.” Over the course of their conversation Alex had picked up how much more pronounced Laf accent had gotten, presumably due to the time they had spent in France. It was a slight, yet interesting difference that was inaudible over phone, yet seemingly so obvious face to face. 

“Shit, guess that’s my bad, I have some pictures on my phone, though the ones I have of Angie and AJ are a bit outdated.” Alex said, pulling out his phone and flipping to the photos application. He handed it to Lafayette, who adjusted their ponytail before taking it.

“Mon dieu ils sont si minion!” Laf exclaimed, the French easily slipping into the conversation. “They have gotten so big Alexander!” 

“God, don't I know it. Especially Philip, he is getting too big. I can barely carry him anymore Laf, where did my little boy go!”

“Mmm, they do grow up fast.”a lull in the conversation before “So do you and Eliza have the kids for every other week?”

“No, she had Angie and AJ pretty well permanently, any time I have with them is discussed with her, and it’s usually only holidays. While I gave Philip permanently, she gets him over for at least one weekend a month. The past two months or so have been an exception because she moved back to New York without giving me any forewarning.” 

“Well, it is not good that you don’t get to see Angelica and Alex jr often, but at least you have Philip. Is this all court ordained?”

“No, we agreed amongst ourselves.” 

Lafayette hummed in acknowledgement, tapping their fingers on the table, their nails making a clicking sound as they connected due to their length. 

“So what would you like to eat?” They asked Alex, the abrupt topic change making his head spin. “They have very good soup here, as well as sandwiches.” 

“I’m not incredibly hungry, Laf. Plus I’ve got my coffee so…” Alex held out his half empty coffee cup for Laf to see, before pulling it back to his face and taking a big swig.

“Alex, I know you don’t have Eliza to regulate your coffee intake anymore, but you should maybe learn to accept that it is not a viable form of nutrition.” 

“Laf I am offended, coffee is definitely a viable form of nutrition. Food is supposed to keep you alive and give you energy, coffee keeps me alive every alive and gives me energy. Definitely a good source of nutrition.” Lafayette raised an eyebrow sceptically. “Plus I did eat breakfast so I don’t necessarily need food.”

“Alex I do not think that is how it works.” 

“Mmm, no I’m pretty sure it is.” They were both smiling, comfortable in just how familiar their back and forth was, no matter how long it had been. 

“Well I am going to get something, do you want anything else? Perhaps another coffee?”

“I would love one Laf, but I really do not need to be taking bathroom breaks every five minutes when I get back to work so I’ll have to pass.” 

“Suit yourself. I am going to get myself something. I will be getting myself something though.” They said standing up and walking to the counter. Alex couldn’t quite hear what Laf was ordering or saying, but by the baristas flustered expression, and Laf’s casual pose, Alex supposed that Lafayette was flirting. 

When Lafayette returned to the table, they were carrying a bowl and a recyclable cup full of some type of fancy latte. From Alex’s vantage point the first few digits of what was presumably a phone number was written hastily on the cup. 

“Still flirting with just about everyone, huh Lafayette?” Alex called as they sat down. 

“I must spread my charms Alexander!” Lafayette replied in turn, “besides, someone must make up for your lack of charm.” 

“Oh shut up” Alex laughed, feeling younger as the conversation continued. “I have lots of charm, thank you very much.”

“Alexander, we both know that your only charm consists of sending love letters by mail.”

“Well it’s something isn’t it? More charm than Thomas has at any rate. I know you’re still friends with him.” Alex was mock pouting in his seat, leaning back it’s his arms crossed. 

“Alex, I know for a fact that you were swooning over his accent at least once or twice. As well as half of our university. You can’t say he has no charm. Besides, it has been years since you have seen him.”

“Fine fine, but I was definitely not swooning over him. He was a dick.”

“Eh, he may have been a dick, at least then, but you were definitely swooning. I think it was the accent.”

“I- what? No! I definitely did not think his accent was hot!” 

“I never said you thought his accent was hot.” Laf was grinning smugly. 

“How did this conversation go from your flirting to my nonexistent swooning over Jefferson.”

“Deflecting huh Alexander? Very underhanded way of changing the conversation.” Alex glared at Lafayette over the rim of his coffee cup, gulping down another mouthful. 

“So, since you’re so insistent on your charm, are you dating anyone? Or are you still as single as you were all through high school and uni.” Alex asked, diverting the conversation to something Laf could talk about for hours. His love life.

“Oh! Of course! You would not know!. So before I moved back from France last year, I met this wonderful woman by the name of Adrienne, and we hit it off, we were dating for a few months until I decided to come back. Unfortunately she’s working on a very important project and couldn’t come with me, but we are still together. She has also given me permission to find other loves while I am here as long as I am honest to her. She is just so wonderful.” 

Lafayette continued to talk about how wonderful Adrienne was for a good portion of their visit. Alex hadn’t expected for them to be able to stop talking about his love life for a few minutes, but he definitely hadn’t guessed it would have been half an hour. By the time they even stopped to start eating the soup they had ordered, Alex’s lunch break was almost over. 

“I am so sorry Alexander,” Laf exclaimed when Alex told them that he had to go. “I did not realize I was taking up so much time talking about my dear Adri. I will have to make it up to you. I am busy tomorrow but Thursday? Perhaps for lunch again?” The two were walking out the door, a bell sounding behind them as they talked. 

“Sure Lafayette, it’s been great seeing you.” Alex smiled at Lafayette as they began to walk back to Alex’s workplace. 

“Well I am glad you called Alexander. I have missed you.” Laf was quiet when they said this, putting their hand on Alex’s shoulder. “I hope you contact more!” As suddenly as it came Lafs serious demeanor came, they were back to their usual carefree self. 

They waved goodbye at the office doors, a far cry from their prior crushing hugs whenever they had left. However, it was progress. So while Alex went back into work thoroughly drained by Laf, he was also content. Proud of the mending - if only ever so slight - of the rift between him and Laf

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had a considerable amount of this pre written when I posted it, but apparently I’ve been writing slow, cause I'm pretty well caught up, which worries me a bit. Mostly for updates. It also means I didn’t read this chapter over as much as the other ones so I hope it’s just as good. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. 30 kudos. That’s 30 more than I expected tbh. Well uh.... enjoy?

Walking into their apartment door at the end of the day was the equivalent of collapsing into your bed after doing a strenuous workout. Alexander was practically dragging himself through the door, exhausted emotionally from his lunch with Lafayette. While beside him, Philip was practically skipping into the room, gripping the straps of his backpack and throwing it to the floor when they got into the living room to rummage through it. Alex on the other hand threw both himself and his bag right onto the couch, moreso letting his body go limp rather than throwing himself, but it was mostly the same thing. 

Philip pulled a book out of his bag triumphantly, rushing over to his Dad to show it off. He had to tap on Alex’s shoulder for a few moments before Alex groaned and faced his kid. 

“Hey Pa! Ms Manning let me borrow Harry Potter!” Philip exclaimed, shoving the book in his face. 

“I thought we already had it Pip.” Alex replied, sitting up. He rubbed at his temple attempting to relieve the headache that had been steadily building since lunchtime. 

“No, mom is the one that has it. I think she was reading it to Angie.” Philip was leaning over the armrest, on hand clasped on his book, the other shifting the couch cushion closest to him. 

“Damn, is Angie that old already..” Alex muttered to himself, leaning back on the couch. 

“Language Pa!” Philip said sing-song, laughing, mocking all of the times Alex had said the same whenever Philip said damn. 

“You’re right Philip. Je dois le dire en français!” Philip giggled, rolling over the armrest of the couch, his feet landing on Alex’s lap. 

“Paaaaaa, you know I can’t speak French.” Pip scooted over, his legs too short to hit the floor when sitting at the back of the couch, and grabbed Alex’s arm now laughing loudly.

“Well I guess you should probably learn it then huh?” Alex teases, poking Philip’s nose. Philip in turn swatted at Alex’s other arm, before turning the other way to pout over dramatically. 

He sat like that for only a few moments before he began laughing again, the gap in his teeth from where he had recently lost a tooth visible. 

“Hey Pa, you wanna come play G. I. Joe’s in my room?” Philip looked hopeful beside him, and it suddenly struck Alex how lonely going from having two siblings to being by himself must have been. 

“Sure Pip, I’d love to,” he replied as Philip dragged him by the wrist to his room. He started rummaging through the small buckets he had up against the wall to pull out a few figures. 

His phone rang in his pocket, he looked up at Philip apologetically, who had placed his toy down to stare at the phone annoyed. Alex picked up the phone to ignore the call, when he saw the number on screen. Any sort of jovial mood he had been in with his son was crushed as he hit the accept button and stood up to walk out of the room. He looked back at Philip to apologize silently, but Philip had already wondered to his bed to play on the tablet he had gotten from Christmas two years ago discontentedly. 

The line was quiet for a moment as neither party spoke. But as Alex leaned against the wall, noise on the other end was heard. Alex, however, was the first to speak. 

“Eliza.” It was an informal greeting to the woman you had loved, married, had kids with, cheated on, divorced and who had your other two kids at her house, but he couldn’t find any other words. It had been a while since Eliza had called, with Alex finally maybe adjusting to living a life without her in it. But he should have known. Even if she held no taste for him, she still loved Philip dearly, and she was not heartless. So she had to call eventually. He had to have expected her voice at some point again, but it still threw him through a loop. Just when he thought he could start over and stop loving her she metaphorical waltzed back in. Not for him, but she was still calling. 

“Alexander.” Rather than his informal discomfort, her tone was icy, hiding her heart behind a wall. She didn’t trust him, so she kept him at a distance. “I know you’re back in the city.” It was a statement. No answer needed, just abrupt and to the point. “I’d like to arrange a week for Philip to stay with me. Soon, preferably within the next three weeks.” 

Alexander’s stomach dropped to his feet, dread filling its place. Weekends without Philip, while not easy, could be filled with work and booze. But a whole week of living alone, no Philip to keep him on a consistent schedule, no one to fill the void that was ever growing in his chest was a daunting prospect. He could function without Philip well enough, it’s that he no longer had the motivation to do so. Sure, the medication he had previously been on had kept him from crashing hard and fast like he was wont to do, but now without those meds his only two pillars of support were Philip and work. Without them Alex might just crumble. 

In college he had had Herc, Lafayette and the Schuyler siblings to catch him when he crashed, then during their marriage he had Eliza, their and the friends he had made in their old city. Now, Hercules was off doing his own thing, Alex having lost contact a few years back, Lafayette, while closer now, was still not nearly as close as before, and Eliza hated him. He had moved away from therapy, had to pay child support to Eliza as she had two of their children, so he couldn’t afford his medication, and any friends he had once had were either gone, too far physically, or too far emotionally. 

But he couldn’t say no.

Not only because of their arrangement between the two of them. Not because he was some selfless saint who cared deeply for Eliza still like some pining fool. (He still cared about her, yes, but he was not so conceited as to believe she would forgive him, as they had tried to work their relationship out, yet nothing had come of it.) But, rather because he couldn’t hurt Philip anymore. Philip, who still deserved his mother, who still deserved contact with his siblings. Philip, whom he knew he had already hurt by tearing the family apart with his stupid decisions. Philip, who deserved so much better than their cheap two bedroom apartment in a more questionable side of town. Philip, who chose to stay. 

“Well, what week works best for you?” 

“I’d prefer next week. Angelica and AJ have been asking about him.” She didn’t say it, but in between the lines Alex read that Eliza missed Philip too. She just didn’t want to say it. She didn’t want to say it to him. 

“I-yeah, next week works. What day do you want me to drop him off?” 

“Saturday to Sunday.” It was a statement, not up for discussion, as most of the things Eliza had said. 

“Yeah I can do that,”

“Goodbye Alexander.”

Bye Bets-” Alex cut himself off, mildly horrified at his slip up of the nickname he had used for his ex when they had actually been close. He went to apologize for overstepping the boundaries she had very clearly drawn in stone, but the dial tone was already ringing in his ear. 

Alex let his arm fall limp to his side, phone clutched loosely in his hand. He stood there for a moment, shutting his eyes and just thinking. He stood outside of Philip’s the nearly silent clunks of Philip playing drifting in and out of his ears as he swayed. He was there for an indeterminate amount of time, the honking of horns on the road audible, as well as the quieter sound of sirens. 

When his brain was at mostly full capacity after its minor shutdown, he walked back into Philip’s room to tell him about how he would be spending a week with Eliza. He gestured to the bed to sit down.

“Hey Pip, so next week you’ll be going to your moms,” it was easier to just say it rather than build up to it.

“Hmm? It’s been so long though?” Philip almost sounded disappointed that he was going to Eliza’s, which was odd. He had been excited before.

“Yeah, and your mom and siblings miss you lots.” 

“I do miss Angie, and maybe AJ.”

“Not your mom?” That was curious.

“No.”

Alex turned his head to look at Philip, who had his arms crossed and his lip out in a pout.

“Why don’t you miss your mom Pip?”

“Cause she’s mean to you, Pa.” he turned to look at Alex as well, his eyebrows scrunched up, he was pouting anymore, he was scowling. An odd look on someone so young. 

“Pip, she’s just angry, sometimes people are mean when they’re angry. Doesn’t mean it’s okay, but your mom is probably going to be angry with me for a while longer. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t miss her. I know she misses you.” 

“But…” Philip turned away again, looking at the floor in contemplation.

“If nothing else, be excited to see Angie and AJ again, they definitely miss you bud.”

“What day am I leaving?”Alex smiled at Philip, scorching himself closer to the boy.

“I’m taking you there Saturday and I’ll pick you up the next Sunday. Your mom will be the one to take you to school. Does that sound good?”

Philip turned back to Alex and smiled a big grin, any anger gone for the moment, though they would have to talk more about that another time. But for now the two hugged.

Later that night, when Philip was asleep and Alex was laying in bed starting at the cracked ceiling that really needed to be repainted, Alex picked up his phone and shot a text. 

_ Hey john, this is Alex. I was wondering if you wanted to have some drinks with me this weekend _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know if I’m overthinking this or what, but I feel like Alex is really out of character and it’s consuming my waking moments. Am I wack? Is this just me being paranoid and overthinking? Cause this guy is dead so we’ll never really know what he was like, and I’ve definitely been (Re-) reading way too many fanfics. 
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Laf, cause I said so

Alex walked in the next day looking and feeling like absolute shit. In fact, Liz took one look at him, grabbed his hand, dragged him to the breakroom and poured him the largest cup of coffee the office had, which happened to be in one of those cups meant for soup. According to her he looked like he had just crawled out of some sort of sleep deprivation hell, which was certainly an interesting description, through probably accurate. 

In the time he was working Alex walked to refill his cup twice before lunch. Every time he got up from his swivel chair with the cup in hand Liz gave him what she called her mom look, which she had apparently perfected on her 12 year old son William. Alex could definitely tell that she had perfected it as he could feel Liz’s eyes staring holes into his back. 

Up until noon, the day seemed to move at a snail's pace, the only break to the monotonous typing that sounded through the room was the occasional yawn or quiet chuckle at something unrelated to whatever the person was working on. Everyone in the workplace seemed to be feeling the same sort of energy as Alex was, because as soon as 12:30 - their earliest mandated lunch hour - hit, 90 percent of the people in the office got up and either left out the door to the stairwell that led outside or 

Alex and Liz were two of the people still working at their desks, Alex was about half focused on the article he was writing half zoned out and Liz was thoroughly concentrated on the article she was editing, her tongue stuck out of her mouth almost comically. Alex was running low on coffee which wasn’t ideal, but he sure as hell wasn’t getting up to get any more, as with how many people were gone the break room was probably a little crowded. So the two of them sat there for a solid ten minutes before even beginning to move to get lunch.

Liz sat up straight from her hunched over position, her back cracking as she stretched her arms over her head. 

“I don’t know why these are the chairs we’re given.” She said, arching her back over the too small to be comfortable back of the chair,making her back crack more. “I’ve never felt older than when I sit up from these god forsaken things, and that’s saying something, cause my bed is quite hellish as well.” 

“Damn, I feel that Liz,” Alex laughed, leaning back in his chair as much as he dared. “I’m pretty sure my mattress is almost 8 years old at this point and it’s definitely not doing any favours in helping me sleep.” 

“I would have gotten myself a new one if me William and Peggy hadn’t gone on vacation earlier this year.” Liz replied laughing as well. Her laugh was deeper than the pitch of her voice, but it was clear and kind. “I almost regret it, but Will was so excited to see another state and stay in a hotel that I really can’t. Besides, if I’m sleeping poorly enough I can just call up Pegs and go to their place.” 

“Shit Liz, I wish I could just steal a significant other's bed for the night.” 

“The only real perk of a relationship,” Liz jested, leaning forwards, elbows on their desk. “That and the cuddling.” 

The two laughed, closing their laptops to prepare to go find some lunch somewhere. 

Any plans they might have come up with were foiled when the door from the stair was practically kicked open to reveal a smiling Lafayette. That day they were wearing a flowy patterned maxi skirt and black dress shirt, hair up in their usual high ponytail. 

“Alexander!” Lafayette spotted him immediately, rushing over to pull him into a thoroughly unexpected hug. “Surprise! I finished my photoshoot early, so I came to steal you for lunch!” When Laf was done crushing Alex’s ribs with his hug, he pulled away and looked over to Liz who looked absolutely baffled. “Ah, who are you?” 

“I’m Elizabeth, you can call me Liz though. I suppose I never did introduce myself when you ambushed me Monday.” 

“Ah, yes! The lovely person from Burr's office! Pleasure to formally meet you!” 

Liz looked between the two of them, obviously trying to get a read on Lafayette and Alexander. It took Alex a moment to realize that Liz was surprised and perhaps confused at Lafayette’s continued contact with Alex. Which made Alex realize that He avoided touch very obviously, shying out of most hugs and other friendly touches without even thinking about it, which made Lafayette’s continuous friendly touches odd. To be fair though, Laf was a very touchy feely person and they would give you  _ a look _ if you didn’t let them hug you constantly. Their puppy dog eyes were too strong. 

“Yeah, nice to meet you too,” 

“So Laf, what do you need?” Alex asked, pulling away from Lafayette’s arms still wrapped around him. 

“I do not need anything Alexander, I came to enjoy your company! We must make up for lost time!” They replied enthusiastically, wrapping their arms around Alex once more. 

“Uhhhh, is this a bad time?” Aaron was standing in the doorway looking both stunned and uncomfortable, glancing from Lafayette smothering Alex to Liz standing behind her desk and looking just as befuddled as him. 

“Aaron!” 

“Aaron Burr, sir!” 

Lafayette and Alex both shouted at the same time, looking over to him. At this, Burr and Liz and exchanged a look of both understanding and confusion, that boiled down to  _ what the fuck is happening _ . One that Lafayette obviously entirely missed as they pulled away from Alex and essentially skipped across the room to hug Aaron. 

“It has been too long since I have pestered you’re my friend! Luckily since Alexander is here now too we can ensure that I annoy you more often.” It was unclear by the tone of their voice whether Lafayette was teasing or not, and Burr looked mildly afraid at this statement. 

“No need Lafayette, I encourage you to bother Washington rather than me.” 

“Well we can do both, Aaron” Lafayette replied looking rather proud of this option. 

“Hey Laf, maybe you should just annoy Aaron, Washington is technically my boss and I’d rather not get in shit with him,” Alex said, crossing the room to join Lafayette and Aaron, Liz right behind him. 

“Technically  _ I’m  _ your superior as well,” Aaron grumbled, looking rather disgruntled. 

“But Aaron, you would never get us fired,” Liz said teasingly, joining in on the team up against Burr fest. “Besides, if it’s just Lafayette nobody here can actually get fired.” 

Aaron looked over to Liz, such a degree of betrayal on his face that the other three nearly fell over laughing. Laf had to balance themself by placing a hand on Alex’s back, who had hunched over, hands clasped on his knees, his face red in mirth. Liz was fully sitting on another worker's desk (thankfully one with no one working at it), her head thrown back and her arms gripping the back. 

“You’ll have to be wary now Aaron, Laf could come out at any time.” Alex wheezed, attempting to get into a standing position. 

“You’ll never see me coming” Lafayette said almost menacingly in not for the ridiculous cackle in his voice. 

Then all four of them were laughing, all in various stages of collapse, with Liz fully laying on the desk now, and Aaron leaning against the doorway, his hand on his chest. Alex and Lafayette were leaning against each other, practically crouched on the ground, tears streaming down Lafayette’s face. 

When they calmed down a few minutes later, still chuckling, Alex swayed when getting up, the head rush of laughing as well as not enough sleep and too much coffee throwing him through a loop. 

“Oh shit,” he muttered, grabbing onto lafs shoulder. “Hey Laf, wanna come to the store with me to grab some monster? The coffee is not cutting it today.” 

“Alex you have had a solid three large mugs, do you really need more caffeine?” Aaron and Lafayette sighed, knowing Alex well enough that if he was sleep deprived enough there was no ‘ _ enough’  _ caffeine. 

“Mmm, I’ve definitely had more caffeine in a day. I don’t think this even makes my top ten list.” 

“Alexander Hamilton, I worry about you sometimes.” Liz said, looking over to him, concerned. 

“Me too” Lafayette and Aaron chorused, looking at Alex like they were some sort of exhausted parent of a rebellious teen. 

“Apparently I’ve collected a group of mom friends,” Alex muttered to himself, laughing quietly. Then louder, “anyway, do you want to come? I’m going to go anyway, but you may as well join me.” 

“Fine, but you owe me a shitty convenience store baked good.” 

“Deal” Alex said, starting to move to back towards the exit. 

“Are you not going to invite either of us?” Liz asked from behind him. Alex stopped, embarrassed and turned back around. 

“Well do either of you want to come? I kinda figured you didn’t.” 

“I’m going to grab a slice of pizza from next door and hole in my office” Aaron replied. 

“Oh I don’t actually want to go, I’m just giving you shit. Go get your shitty monster, asshole,” Liz said shoving him towards the door. 

“Damn okay,” Alex laughed, grabbing Laf and pulling him towards the door. “Bye you dicks,” was his goodbye as he opened the door and left, Lafayette calling out a kinder goodbye behind him. 

“So anything exciting coming up for you Laf?” Alex asked as they walked down the street towards the closest convenience store. 

“Oh yes! I’m doing a photoshoot for a pretty high list model, which might put me on the radar of some more famous people” they said excitedly. 

“Shit Laf, that’s amazing, I suppose it’s safe to say that your career is going just as well over here then?” 

“Oh it has been even better in America than it was in France, although I do think that that is because I gained a bit of a name in France that came with me to America” 

“That’s super awesome Laf,” 

“So what about you? Anything exciting?” 

“Other than my plans to get absolutely wasted Saturday and stay like that all weekend, I don’t think so” 

“Ah, very exciting indeed, perhaps you would like a partner?” The two we’re walking into the convenience store, immediately going to the small fridge where the drinks were kept. 

“I mean I’m already drinking with a friend from the complex I’m in, but I’m sure you could join us” Lafayette seemed to think for a moment, before asking another question. 

“That sounds great, but what about Philip? Where will he be staying in all of this?” 

“Mmm, he’s staying with Eliza all week, from Saturday to the next Sunday. Hence drinking beginning Saturday not Friday.” Alex replied, grabbing an original monster from the small selection the store had. 

“What are you going to do all week? Your entire life revolves around your son!” Lafayette laughed, grabbing some sort of wrapped pastry thing from one of the isles. 

“Probably work and drink coffee, Laf” Alex said, chuckling, but dead serious about his plans. 

“Mmm, that sounds very boring Alex,” lad replied as they walked up to the counter, Alex pulling change out of his pocket to pay as the lace was cash only.”I will visit you every day I can and ensure you eat. As your capabilities to care for yourself decrease significantly when you’re not also caring about someone else.” 

“Damn Laf, you really feeling like calling me out huh?” Alex chuckled as the walked out of the store, things in hand and began their walk back to the company. “Either way I’ll have to care for myself at least a little bit, if Eliza thinks I’m not taking care of myself or Philip she’ll probably go to court to try and take him away.” 

Lafayette looked over at him, shock evident on their face. 

“But Eliza is so sweet?” They seemed utterly baffled. 

“Well, our divorce was a bit messy” Alex sighed as they made their way back down the street passing a few people Alex vaguely recognized as colleagues. 

“What did you do to make her hate you so?” Alex was quiet for a minute, thinking over how to say what had ended their marriage. 

“I… well I cheated on Eliza with another woman for almost half a year without telling her.” Lafayette stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, looking at Alex like he had grown a second head. 

“But you loved Eliza?” It was phrased as a question about whether he had truly loved Eliza, but Alex knew that Lafayette was just asking why. 

“I did- I do, but… I don’t know” he did “I met her and we hit it off, I was just trying to get her out of her abusive relationship and something happened along the way and I just- well needless to say it ended in me and Eliza’s divorce as well as the end of the affair.” Lafayette stared at Alex for a few moments taking him in, taking in the information. 

“Well I certainly understand why she is pissed at you.” 

“Hah, yeah” Alex laughed self-deprecatingly. 

The two continued their walk in silence, only bricking it when they reached the company doors. 

“I know I did a really shitty thing to Eliza, and I know I kinda deserve the shit she’s giving me, but I would really appreciate it if I didn’t lose you over this affair either. I already pushed you out once.” 

“I will not leave unless you want me to Alexander” Lafayette said kindly, turning to face him. “Yes what you did was terrible, but you do not deserve to not see your children, nor do you need anymore punishment for what you’ve done, I think you’re doing that well enough on your own.” 

For the first time since probably college graduation, it was Alex who pulled Lafayette into a hug, holding him tightly. A thank you whispered lightly into their shoulder. When they pulled away Alex had to re-tie his hair as small pieces had gotten out and were falling into his face. 

“Well Alexander, I have another shoot in an hour so I must say adieu,” Lafayette said at last. 

“I also have work I need to get back to, as well as a monster energy to chug.” The two looked at each other for a moment, thankful to have the other back in their lives, before Laf pulled Alex into a goodbye hug. 

The two went their separate ways afterwards, but the conversation left a warm feeling in the pit of Alex’s stomach that’s remained for the rest of the day. 

It was nice. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some good feels before we head to Eliza’s place next chapter. That won’t be fun for Alex. Fun for me, but not Alex.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex just wants to see his kids and be mentally stable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo, I’m later than usual. I actually went to bed a at a decent time last night tho so. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy the chapter.

Saturday rolled around too fast for how much Alex was dreading it. Thursday and Friday passed like blurs, the only thing on note happening was Alex and Philip’s movie night watching Disney’s Hercules and getting a noise complaint from their singing. Philip, after laughing and singing, fell asleep easily, practically collapsing in his bed after brushing his teeth, needing Alex to convince him to change into his pyjamas. Alex on the other hand continued his streak that week of getting less than two hours a night, practically only falling asleep for a few minutes and only waking up more tired than when he actually fell asleep. 

So Alex was brewing himself a large cup of coffee, using up the last of his coffee grinds to make it extra strong. It would probably taste terrible, but considering he felt like absolute garbage he doubted the taste of the coffee would matter. Philip had yet to wake, but considering it was five am and Philip went to bed pretty late for his standards, Alex doubted he would be up until around 9. 

After his first cup of coffee (as nasty as expected) Alex decided to go shower, from the way it fell around his face, even without looking in a mirror Alex could tell it was incredibly greasy. Not that he hadn’t showered, he showered everyday if he could help it. It was more so that his hair was the type that got greasy fast. Plus a shower might wake him up a little more. Help him feel a bit human. 

He took his time, showering for nearly twenty minutes - a long time in comparison to his usual six minute showers. He made sure to keep the water cooler than normal, leaving it at lukewarm temperature to help him keep his eyes open. He chose to use his more floral scented shampoo and conditioner, preferring it rather than the scent of traditional ‘mens’ shampoo, which usually had strong, harsh scents. 

Getting out of the shower was a struggle, not only because of the temperature difference - although it was much smaller than average as he preferred his water scalding. It was also because even though the coffee and shower had definitely woken him up some, his eyes were still heavy and his vision was lacking as his contacts weren’t in and he couldn’t exactly wear glasses in the shower. (He had tried one, he just ended up with ruined glasses and a large bill for new ones.) Thankfully Alex managed to get out of the shower without slipping and cracking his head open, which was definitely a point in the ‘this hasn’t been a bad morning’ category. 

When he had toweled off and brushed his hair out, he walked down the hall to his room. Throwing the towel that had been around his waist to the floor and beginning to rummage through his dresser, looking for some presentable, clean clothes. He only had a few dress shirts most of which were dirty from use that week at work, but he did find an older purple one at the bottom of his pants drawer for some reason, that would definitely work, but would need to be steamed. So he pulled on some clean boxers, jeans and socks, and walked out to the empty room that would be turned into an office/guest room at some point, but was just storage at the moment. It took Alex more than ten minutes of searching through boxes that still needed to be unpacked before he found the ironing board and iron that Eliza had left with him. He made quick work of the wrinkled shirt before pulling it on.

#####  For the next two hours Alex holed himself up in his office with a second cup of coffee and his laptop open, working on an essay while he waited for Philip to get up. He was going to take Philip to Eliza’s place after lunch, at around two o’clock. He had around 3000 words down by 9:30, and was halfway through his third cup before he decided to get Philip up. Most weekends Philip would wake up on his own by 8, but Alex would often let him sleep in rather than wake him up. Today however, Alex wanted to spend some time with Philip before they had to go.

Waking Philip up wasn’t difficult, Alex really only had to rub his shoulder and tell him to get up because Alex was going to make pancakes. As he walked out of the room to let Philip get dressed, he noted how there were still a few boxes to be unpacked that had books that Philip liked in them. Philip’s floor also looked in need of sweeping, which Alex could do sometime during the next week easily. 

Walking to the kitchen, Alex pulled out a small bowl and whipped up some pancake batter, ensuring that there was enough that they could freeze some and Philip could have them at a later date without the hassle of mixing up the batter. A few minutes later as Alex was pouring the first two pancakes into the pan when Philip walked out of his room. He took a seat at the small dinner table, putting down a tablet that he had gotten for Christmas a few years back. 

“Hey Pip, do you have clothes ready? I doubt she’ll have anything that fits you after your growth spurt.” Alex asked, looking over his shoulder at Pip as he flipped the pancakes.

“No.” Philip was tapping on the screen, focused, it was obvious he wasn’t really listening to Alex.

“Well can you go do that? The pancakes aren’t ready yet but if you do that by the time you get back there will be a few done.”

“Do I have to?” Philip whined, finally looking up from his game.

“Philip.” 

“Fine, fine I’m going.” He pushed back from the table with a little more force than needed and walked back to his room. A moment later very loud drawer rummaging could be heard through the door. Content that Philip was packing, Alex flipped the finished pancakes out of the pan and started on a new batch. 

When Philip came out of his room, a large duffel bag in hand, Alex had finished off the batter and was pulling some table syrup out of the fridge. They ate in silence, Philip back on his tablet. 

The rest of the time they spent at the house was similar to their breakfast. It was quiet, both of them sitting in the living room, Alex writing while Philip played games beside him. 

About half an hour before they had to go, Alex double checked with Philip that he had enough clothing and whatever else he wanted to bring. Thankfully he had grabbed everything minus his pyjamas, which were easy enough to put into the bag. 

Soon enough they were on the road to Eliza’s. Philip in the back seat looking bored, and way less excited than Alex had expected, while Alex was driving, stewing in his nervousness to see Eliza. The drive was about half an hour, into the richer outskirts of New York, where people could afford a whole house. 

When they god there, Alex was in absolutely awestruck. 

Looking up at the massive house Eliza owned, Alex was struck, once again, with just how rich she was. Some of it was money from her parents, but much of it was gained through the multiple jobs she had, including child care during the summer, teacher most of the year and every so often mental health professional. She was a smart woman who knew how to save and stock, giving her a small fortune to provide easily for her family. 

The house she had bought consisted of three stories, a large porch out front and by the looks of it an even larger yard out back. A two car garage on the side and a driveway large enough to fit six more, it was both easy to see why Eliza had bought this house and also a mystery as to why she would want all of the space. He supposed she was going back to living in luxury after their mediocre apartment they had shared. 

Philip was in awe of the house as well, and it struck Alex how much happier he would probably be living here. He shook off the thoughts as Philip grabbed his bag and tablet, rushing out of the car and up to the front door, cutting through their perfect lawn. Alex took his time getting out and made sure not to cut across the lawn, partially because it was rude, but also partially because he remembe red it being a pet peeve of Eliza’s. 

When he got up to the door, Philip was already waiting, bouncing on his  toes in excitement. Apparently Pip had already rung the doorbell so the two only had to wait for it to be answered. Luckily they didn’t wait long, as after a few moments the door was thrown open and a high pitched shriek of laughter was heard. Next Alex knew he was nearly knocked over by the force of Angie and AJ hugging him. 

“Daddy!” It was Angelica who spoke, tears running down her face. AJ was just holding onto him tight, gripping his pant leg. Scooping her up, Alex held Angie close to his chest hugging her tight. 

“Hey Angie.” He said it softly, stroking her curly hair that Eliza cared for so well even without having curly hair herself. “I’ve missed you honey,” her sobs grew louder and she hugged his neck tight, gripping the hair on the back of his beach tightly. After a few minutes her tears quieted, so he kissed his daughter’s forehead once before putting her down to pick up AJ, who had been crying quietly against his leg. He hugged him tightly before looking over to the entryway.

Eliza appeared in the doorway, looking at him for a moment with a scowl before turning to Philip. Immediately her expression shifted, her eyes softening and a smile spreading across her face. Philip himself looked a little unsure, but then he smiled and it seemed alright. Eliza stepped forwards and, as Alex had, scooped Philip into a hug, squatting down to meet him and pulling the boy close. Philip hesitated for a moment, then wrapped his arms around his mom as well, leaning his head against her shoulder laying his head on her shoulder. 

The truce lasted a few moments, Eliza consciously ignoring Alex while she hugged Philip and Philip got to see Angie and AJ for the first time in five months. Eventually though, Eliza let go of Philip - though she kept a hand on his head - and turned to Alex. She was scowling once more, though far less harshly than when she had first appeared at the door. 

“Alexander.” Alex took a step to greet her, not really thinking about it, when he stopped short. A familiar face stood in the doorway, looking out at him nervously. 

“Maria.” It was barely audible, an exhale that just happened to be the name of the woman who he had had an affair with. Yet she heard him, stepping out of the shadows that the doorway cast and into the more sunlit porch. 

She looked good. Last he had seen her, she was too skinny for her size, not being given enough food from her husband and not having any money herself. But now she had filled out, eyes no longer sunken in from exhaustion, and actually looking bright. Her hair was well kept, like she actually had the supplies to keep her gorgeous curly hair, curly. She was also wearing clothing she seemed comfortable in, and not longer had bruises covering her arms and legs. All in all, she looked healthier and happier. Obviously her divorce had been good for her. 

“Alexander.” Her tone was more demure than Eliza’s, more nervous and less angry. Alex looked between the two of them, unsure what was happening. Unsettled, he put AJ down, kissing his forehead as well before turning completely to the two women. 

“What are you doing here Maria?” Eliza's eyes flashed dangerously, before she slipped her arm around Maria’s waist. 

“She lives here Alexander.” It was then that Alex was hit with what was going on, what he should have clearly seen as soon as he saw Maria in the shadows.

“So you two are dating?” It was less of a question and more of a statement. He wanted to be disbelieving, but all he could really feel for them was proud that they had found happiness in each other. 

Rather than answer him, Eliza turned to the children.

“Angie, AJ, go show Philip around the house would you? I know you two got him something, so you can give him that right?”

The children’s eyes lit up and they all rushed inside, Angelica talking happily the whole way. When it was just the three of them, Alex looked at the two women for an answer. 

“Yeah,” it was Maria who spoke, more loudly and confidently. “We’ve been together for over a year now.”

“She moved in with me when we moved.” Eliza said, smiling softly at Maria.

“So, she’s been living with you and  _ our kids  _ for two months without my knowledge?” Alex was just a little bit pissed at that.

“What does it matter Alexander?” Eliza scowled, moving Maria closer to her side. “You had an affair with her for a year without  _ my  _ knowledge. I don’t have to tell you shit.” 

“Well I’d really prefer you do when it comes to our _ kids _ Eliza!” Alex was getting angry now, his hands clenched in his pockets as he tried to get Eliza to understand that this wasn’t about him.

“Oh, bullshit Alexander. You don’t care about your kids. You only care about yourself. If you cared you wouldn’t have had that affair and you wouldn’t have torn our family apart.” Eliza had stepped closer, and was now right in Alex’s face, Maria behind her looking thoroughly uncomfortable.

Alex went to retort back something scalding, anger still fogging his mind when he realized what Eliza had said. He suddenly deflated, the anger rushing out of him. His fists unclenched, and his shoulders dropped. 

“So maybe, Alexander, don’t talk shit about Maria moving in with us.” She hissed, eyes burning. They stood like that, saying nothing for a few moments before Eliza stepped back, moving back beside Maria, who grabbed her hand. 

“So you’ll pick Philip up next Sunday?” Maria broke the silence, glancing to Eliza before looking at Alex. 

“Yeah, I can do that. You know which school he goes to? I think I sent the address.”

“Yes, I’ll be driving him since Eliza has to be at Montgomery school early. AJ and Angie just take a school bus.”

“Alright, so I’ll be off then.” Alex said turning around. “I’d imagine Philip will be a bit busy at the moment. Tell him I said bye, yeah?” 

“Bye Alexander,” Maria said, waving at him from the porch as he walked back to the car. Eliza stood beside her, still scowling, not saying a words, but wrapping her arms around Maria’s waist. 

Getting back to the car, Alex leaned just head against the the steering wheel and sighed. 

It was going to be a long week

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found out yesterday that historical Hamilton had short hair in the from and long in the back- which mean he essentially had a mullet and I both don’t know what to do with this info, and also love it.   
> Also, angry Eliza is angry. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed:)


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We get to spend more time with John!

When he got back to his apartment, his first action was to collapse on the couch, throwing his arm over his eyes. He then had to remove said arm so he could pull his phone out and ask John when he wanted Alex over. John had agreed when Alex had asked earlier that week, as apparently he had an entirely two days off, not even on call. However, they hadn’t set a concrete time as John had wanted to sleep as he was just getting off of nights, and wasn’t sure what time he would be awake. Alex had also informed John that ‘a friend’, aka Lafayette might be dropping by at some point. 

However, until John replied with a time to head down to his apartment, Alex was stuck simmering in his thoughts while he laid on the couch and tried desperately to forget the miserable interaction he had had with Eliza earlier. Generally the only thing that could consistently get his brain to shut up was work or sleep, and since sleep was so hard to come by, the only option was work. So he forced himself into a sitting position so he could grab his laptop from the three legged coffee table that really needed to be replaced and happened to be  _ just  _ too far from the couch. 

He was working intensively on an article about the New York senator’s mishandling of their spread of information when his phone buzzed beside him, startling him so badly that he nearly fell off of the couch. When his racing heart had calmed a bit, he gently placed his laptop beside him and picked up his phone to look at the notification. 

John Laurens:  _ holy shit, I have slept that much in over two months, I think I got in a solid nine hours! Nine! _

Alex laughed, understanding the lack of decent sleep intimately.

John Laurens:  _ anyway, you can come over anytime in the next hour, I wanna get something to eat, but we can order in some pizza to go with the booze if you’d like. _

Alex looked over to clock on his microwave, momentarily forgetting he had both a cheap watch on his wrist and a phone in his hand. Displayed on the clock face was, from what he could tell with his terrible eyesight, was the numbers 6:30 ish. Alex was mildly surprised at the time. It had been nearly three hours since he got home from Eliza's place. He wasn’t sure whether he had expected it to be later or earlier, but with the curtains covering any windows in that section of the apartment it’s not like he could have gaged the passing of time via any other external factors, so he shouldn’t have been surprised. 

Once he gathered the time and realized he hadn’t actually eaten lunch or breakfast himself, only really ensuring that Philip had eaten, not himself, he fired a text back to John. 

Alexander H.:  _ that sounds great John, I’ll be down in probably about twenty minutes. I’ll eat whatever pizza you order if you’d like to order now. _

When the text was sent, Alex turned back to his laptop, finishing his previous thoughts before closing it and plugging it into its charger in his room so he wouldn’t have to worry about it dying next time he used it.

His next steps were tidying up the living room just a smidge, as he had to try and at least maintain the image of being a responsible adult. He then grabbed his phone and slipped on his shoes, heading out of the apartment and climbing down the stairs to the third floor. It was only when he stepped into the third floor hallway that he realized he didn’t actually know which of the couple apartments there was John’s. 

Alexander H.:  _ I feel dumb for forgetting to ask, but which apartment here is yours?  _

Alex had to wait a few minutes before the little ‘read’ showed up under the text, but as soon as it did, the door at the far end of the hall was thrown open, revealing a smiling John. Quickly, Alex walked over, waiving at John, who was looking more alive than he had the few times Alex had seen him. 

“Alex!” John shouted when he spotted him, waiving him over. “Come in, take a seat, I just ordered two pizzas, cause I don’t know about you, but I’m hella hungry, and pizza sounds divine right about now.”

“I mean I don’t know about  _ hungry,  _ but I’m definitely down for some ‘za” Alex replied, stepping into the apartment. 

Even at first glance, you could tell John wasn’t in his apartment as much as he wanted to be, but was well cared for. It had the look of a place that was both clean and messy. There was nothing on the floors, the couches and tables were mess free, but there were cobwebs in the corners, and the ‘dining room’ table (a small two person table between what appeared to be the bathroom and the kitchen) obviously hadn’t been used in a considerable amount of time. But the leather couch was well worn, and the island had scratches and knicks from cooking.

“Well it’ll be here in about ten minutes cause I have some cash to spare and didn’t feel like walking.”

“What didn’t feel like walking next door?” Alex smiled impishly at John, who had sat down in the leather recliner. “Why Mr. Laurens, that’s incredibly lazy of you.” 

John laughed, gesturing for Alex to sit on the couch.

“Well I don’t think I’ve been able to stay in my apartment for longer than probably six hours in a considerable amount of time, and I really felt like just staying home, so sue me.”

“Damn, you must be really busy John.” Alex said, taking a seat and nearly moaning at how damn comfortable the couch was. A far cry from his worn but stiff couch. 

“The life of a nurse on shift Alex,” John bemoaned jokingly, “I’m doomed to have few breaks, and more breakdowns.” Alex laughed, shifting his body position so one leg was up on the couch and he was more comfortable. “No, but for real, I love my job,I just wish they’d actually hire more nurses. Then I could sleep more.” 

“I mean I definitely understand the need for more sleep. I exist in a perpetual state of  _ tired _ .” 

“So what do you do for work Alex?” John asked, popping out the footrest on the chair. 

“I work in a journalism place downtown. It’s almost entirely online, so even though I’m in the office most days, I can work from home easily.”

“Shit, that would be so convenient.” John said, his back straightening as he thought about all of the possibles of working from home “you’d be able to work at your own pace and get a decent amount of sleep. My dream”

“Ha! I wish I could get a decent amount of sleep. Even with the nice work hours, I’m usually only getting on average two to three hours.” 

Their conversation was cut short by a buzzing coming from Alex’s pocket, which made Alex really irritated, because that was the second time that day that he had nearly fallen out of his seat due to someone messaging him. Left of him John laughed at Alexander jumping, slapping his knee.

“Oh sure, laugh at me for nearly having a heart attack,” Alex said sarcastically, pulling his phone out of the back pocket of his worn jeans. He paled when he saw who the message was from. 

Eliza S.:  _ I said some rude things this afternoon and I would like to apologize for my behaviour. _

It was a stiff and robotic apology, which was definitely better than any other (Philip related) reasons Eliza might have texted him. It was still not great though. It had almost definitely been coerced out of her by Maria. As, usually, when Eliza had to apologize, she went full out, with flowers, a card, and multiple hugs. This felt like she wasn’t even really apologizing for what she said and more so how she said it. As if she could have said “you ruined our family” in any kinder a way. 

Something of the distress the message was causing must have shown on his face, as John had stopped laughing soon after Alex had read the text. 

“Ex wife.” Alex said in place of an explanation, shoving his phone back into his pocket with a half hearted laugh. “Feeling up for a drink yet?” 

John looked at him for a good minute. A curious expression on his face. 

“Yeah, sure.” He said, seeming to have come to some sort of conclusion. He stood from his chair and headed over to the attached kitchen, opening a cupboard above the fridge. “What would you like? I’ve got beer, but I also have some rum and…” he stopped taking for a moment, pushing some this around. “Holy shit I have a lot of run in here.” He muttered almost inaudibly. “Oh, I have some vodka in here too if you want some of that. You can mix it with something if you want.”

“Meh just grab me something. As long as it’s not straight boldly I’m good with whatever.” Alex replied, turning over his shoulder to look at where John stood. “Do you want help? I feel bad stealing your booze and then making you get the drinks too.” 

“Nah, it just means you supply the drinks next time.” John said easily, handing a glass of amber liquid to him before sitting down himself. “Rum and coke. Apparently I still have some coke left so I might as well use it.” 

“Fair enough”. Alex said, sipping on the drink, the taste of alcohol only really an aftertaste to the coke. 

When the pizza arrived about five minutes later,John immediately shoveled down four pieces and three minutes, looking sated by nearly a whole pizza. Alex finished one piece then slipped on his drink as he watched, fascinated as John ate an inordinate amount. When John caught Alexander starring, he just gave Alex a blank look as he ate another slice, licking his fingers clean. 

“Alex, I have had hospital food for the last five days, I reserve the right to be both incredibly hungry, as well as enjoy some good ‘za” John told him seriously, his mouth full of pizza. Which made it hard to take him seriously. 

“I mean, sure. But you don’t have to eat it like it’s going out of style.” Alex laughed, setting his drink down on the coffee table (which had all four legs!) “although I can definitely understand going all out after that much hospital food.”

“Right? Shits nasty.” 

“Yeah, one time I had to spend a week at a hospital because I was both sick and overworked, which somehow meant I had to spend way too much time eating hospital food. Fortunately Eliza sometimes brought me food, but not for every meal. Which was not nice. Although that was probably pay back for the lack of food she got while in the hospital after having Philip.”

“Hey, at least you got to leave eventually. I work there, and sometimes I forget to bring myself food.” John shuddered. “Anyway, I know about Philip, but do you have any other kids?” 

“Yeah, I’ve got three kids.” Alex said, smiling at the thought of them. “Philip is the oldest, at 8. He lives with me most of the time, but my ex Eliza has him this week. Angie is the middle child, she’s too clever and loud for her own good. I’m not sure whether she took after me or her namesake, Eliza's sister Angelica, but she’s definitely a spitfire. She’s with Eliza pretty well year round.” Alex took a second pulling out his phone, which his lock screen had his nicest picture of his three children, all laughing and holding up their Christmas gifts. “My youngest is Alexander Jr, although we call him AJ, he is a pretty quiet kid, although that’s what happens when your two elder siblings are as loud as they are. He’s definitely a smart kid though. He didn’t start talking ‘till nearly two years old, but when he did, it was full sentences. And he’s got numbers pretty down, although Eliza’s piano lessons definitely helped with that.”

“Damn, you’ve got some cute kids.” John said, looking at the picture. “Although it’s a bit conceited to name your kid after yourself is it not?” John laughed, looking up at Alex. 

“Honestly, it was Eliza who suggested naming him after me, I wanted it to be James, after my brother who died when I was younger, but Eliza had already decided, and I didn’t want to be mean and force a name on our kid.” 

“What happened to your brother?” 

Alex sighed, rubbing his hands together in a nervous fidget. 

“He died in that massive hurricane a few years back. I had just gotten into college in the states, which was super exciting, and we were celebrating when the storm hit. I was seventeen at the time, he was twenty one.”

“Shit Alex. I’m sorry.”Alex shrugged, leaning back into the couch and taking a large gulp of his drink. 

“It’s fine. Shit happens.”

“Hey, are you cool if I turn on some music? I just splurged on a sweet new speaker and I wanna test it out.” John said, switching the topic.

“Yeah, sure.” Alex answered easily. It’d keep the conversation from fading out.

“Alright, thanks.” He replied, standing up and walking to the island behind Alex. John fiddled with something for a minute before letting out an ‘aha!’ As music started to play. “Hope you’re cool with some 70’s punk.” 

“Is this the clash?” Alex asked as John returned, now choosing to sit beside Alex on the couch rather than sit on the recliner. 

“Yeah, but I’ve got some other bands like the sex pistols on here, I also think I have a couple of Fergie songs on this playlist?” 

“What on earth is this playlist?”

“It’s just a variety show. Oh, I have some green day on her too!” He said as Basket Case came on. “This is my, ‘fuck the government while feeling cute playlist’. It’s for when I’m feeling proper rebellious but also wanna jam. I’d bet there’s some backstreet boys and lady gaga on here as well.”

“John, I have a considerable amount of weird playlists, but I think your trumps any rap and musical combo playlists I’ve got.” John just shrugged beside him, throwing his arm over the top of the couch. 

“So is your friend still coming over?”

“I’m not actually sure, he just vaguely suggested he might, and even though I sent him the address he never told me for sure.” 

Just as Alex said that, a loud knocking was heard at John’s door, startling both of them. Even as the two were still reeling from the loud noise, the lock clicked and the door swung open, revealing Lafayette. 

“John! I have come to raid your pantry and steal your rye!” Was the shout they let out, surprising Alex into silence. John, however, was not so quiet. 

“Laf! What have I told you about picking my lock! I gave you a key for a reason!” he shouted back, getting up from the couch to go greet them . 

“Yes but I forgot my key at home!” Lafayette replied, going in to hug John tightly. “And it is so much funnier when I pick your lock. You make your ‘you’ve done something wrong' face” 

“I do not have any such face”

“You do,” Laf insisted, walking over to the living room. It was them that they spotted Alex, and their grin got even bigger. “Alexander! I did not realize you knew my dear Laurens!” This snapped Alex out of his surprise, getting him to stand up. 

“Well I didn’t realize  _ you  _ knew John.” Alex replied, hesitating for a moment before hugging Lafayette as well. 

“But of course! I met him on a visit to England… oh, nearly three years ago now? He was visiting the city in his time off from the army” 

“Wait, you and Alex know each other?” John asked, walking up to the two of them, a glass of straight rum in a glass for Lafayette. 

“Yes, yes, this is the Alexander who is basically my brother!” Lafayette said grabbing the rum from John.

“The one who-“

“Yes, but we are past that and he is forgiven” Lafayette replied, cutting John off. They then situated the self on the recliner, legs over the armrest in a way that the chair was definitely not designed for, but Laf managed to make it look good anyway. “This is good that you are here Alexander. It means I do not have to lock pick your apartment as well.”

“Didn’t you do that enough in college?” Alex asked exasperated. 

“Non? There is never enough lock picking.”

“Oh god, does he walk into your apartment at random hours as well?” 

“Oh god, yes. I remember one time in college, I had actually managed to fall asleep at a decent time, probably the only time that happened. But at three am I wake up, a sound coming from my teeny ass kitchen. So obviously I have to get out of bed to check it out. It’s laf, in my off campus apartment, rummaging through my cupboards like some kind of rat. They had a chocolate bar in their mouth and a glass of wine, that wasn’t mine, in their hand.” 

“Oh god,” John laughed.

“Yeah. So obviously I call out to them, cause it’s not like they even turned the lights on. And they look me right in the eyes, take the chocolate bar out of their mouth and say, and I quote ‘you got any Reece’s puffs?’” John cackled at that, his laugh high pitched and reedy, and Alex joined him, laughing at the memory of Laf, crouched in his kitchen at 3am asking for cereal. Lafayette themself, looked mildly offended.

“I did not look like a rat,” was their complaint, which only made Alex and John laugh harder, John nearly spilling his rum and coke, as it was still in his hand. “What? I did not!”

“Sure Laf, you can say that all you want” Alex wheezed, Hans on his thigh to steady himself. 

“I agree with Alex here Laf,” John said to them, tears of laughter streaming down his cheeks. “I’ve seen you sneak into my house early in the morning before. You definitely look like a rat.” 

“I am being ganged up on and I don’t appreciate it.” Laf grumbled, sipping his drink. This made John and Alec crack up again, doubling over. 

When Alex and John could finally breathe again, they sat back upright, John's hand having somehow travelled to Alex’s back in the time they were laughing. 

“So how did you and Laf meet,” John asked Alex, his hand having moved from his back, but still touching him. 

“We actually met in the first year of college.”

“I was his roommate,” Laf cut in.

“Yeah. I had the misfortune of being your roommate.” Alex said.

“ _ You  _ had the misfortune? I was stuck with your non existent sleep schedule!” Lafayette shot back, sticking his tongue out. 

“You were the one who constantly had someone over. Do you know how much time I spent in the library?” 

“I do, because you always came back at four in the morning” Laf fake bickered, John looking between the two of them amused. 

“ It’s not my fault I had shit due.”

“Alex, you were almost constantly a solid month ahead of your work.”

“And I needed to stay that way.” 

“Damn, I just left all of my projects for the last minute,” John said. Alex looked over at John, completely aghast.

“How did you even graduate?” Alex asked, his voice going higher.

“Natural intelligence and a helluva lot of luck,” John laughed. 

“That’s entirely unfair.” Laf and Alex said in unison. 

“Alexander, you are not allowed to complain. You could have aced tests without studying.” Alex stared at Laf, unimpressed.

“Well, either way, I graduated, and I am currently a nurse getting too little sleep.”

“Were you like Laf in college and actually getting a decent amount of sleep?”

“I was actually getting too much sleep in college.” John laughed. “ most of my classes were late classes so I could sleep in.”

“Ridiculous.” Alex scoffed, tossing his head, which made his hair - which he had kept down that day - slap him in the face. 

“You’re ridiculous.” Lafayette laughed, throwing a pillow at him. Which missed entirely and landed on the floor beside the couch. 

“No I’m Alexander. “ this time it was John who threw the pillow, although it was less of a throw and more of a slap.

“You are not allowed to make Dad jokes in this house. Every time you do, I will be forced to slap you.”

“But I  _ am _ a Dad, do I not have the right?” Alex laughed, pushing the pillow away. 

“No.” John said, seriously enough that Alex started laughing. Then John and Lafayette started laughing too.

They kept talking, and laughing and drinking, and maybe it was the alcohol going to his head - he had always been a bit of a lightweight - but he felt weirdly comfortable laughing and drinking with Lafayette and John. John was sweet and Lafayette was familiar in a way that he had missed the past few years. It was so nice to have actual friends again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y’all really hated Eliza last chapter, which is honestly fair, tho I didn’t expect it for some reason. This chapter is just kinda chilling with the boys and getting to know John. The ending is a bit wonky, but chapters are hard to end and I am very tired.   
> Hope you enjoyed reading :)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im progressively getting later and later with when I post my chapters.

By Wednesday Alex had completely given up on functioning like an actual human being. He hadn’t slept since Sunday when he woke up with a minor hangover and the last time he had ate anything was questionable. It could have been that morning, but it also might have been two morning’s ago. He had lost track of time. He was, at least, drinking, but it’s was mostly coffee or other cafinated drinks. He was pretty sure he had some water Sunday, but it’s not like he drank much water anyway so no change really. 

He was surviving on caffeine and spite. 

It was apparent that Liz and Aaron had noticed both the change in behaviour and schedule, as he was getting out of work much later than usual. The two were giving him concerned parent looks, and were also acting odd. Aaron seemed to be around their desk more, taking more breaks to talk and offer glasses of water and crackers to Alex. He had actually called Aaron out on his mothering the day prior when it had started, but Burr had just tactically brushed and changed topics so easily that Alex didn’t even realize until later, which was pretty impressive. 

At the moment it was their lunch break and while Alex was  _ trying  _ to work, Liz and Aaron were sitting across from him, chatting very loudly out lunch and sleep. Alex got it. He really did. He knew they were just looking out for him, just trying to care for him. But he would really appreciate it if they would just  _ leave him alone _ . The article he was working on was fairly important information wise, and he’d like it published soon, but his friends were disrupting his focus, and preventing him from finishing it. However it didn’t look like that was happening anytime soon. 

The two had gotten thoroughly off from their original topic, as Liz was now talking about how she had splurged on a new sweater. Holding her arm out for Aaron to pet the material. Aaron’s subsequent ‘ooooh’ at the feel of the fabric was incredibly odd, and it was then that Alex registered that he was no longer paying any attention to his work. He was completely tuned in to Aaron gushing about his most recent purchase of a turtleneck sweater, and Liz’s completely baffled reaction that Aaron would buy a turtleneck. 

He tried to get back into his work, to re-focus on the article, but Aaron’s tales about Theodosia and her talking about Philip prevented him from achieving his goal. 

“She comes home everyday talking about school everyday, and of course, Philip is a part of school. So she’s talking away, about Harry Potter, and how much she loves math, which is how I know she’s Theo’s daughter, and she starts talking about Philip, and how he’s given her one of his goosebumps books. Which might not end well, seeing as Teddy’s really prone to nightmares, but either way. Their friendship is really sweet.”

“Does Philip talk about Theodosia a lot Alex?” Liz asked, dropping any decorum in their thinly veiled attempts at distracting him. (Not that the fact that they weren’t hiding it made the distraction any less effective.)

“Sure, she’s the only school thing he gushes about as much as Ms. Manning.” He wasn’t trying to sound as disinterested as he did, it was an unintentional side effect of how numb he was feeling at the moment. 

“He likes Ms Manning?” Burr asked, seeming curious. 

“Yeah, he’s a big fan of what she teaches.”

“Huh. Teddy doesn’t like Ms Manning, says she teaches a lot of history and science. Which Teddy apparently doesn’t like.”

“Yeah, those seem like the kind of subjects Philip would like, although he’s also a big fan of the fact that they’re reading Harry Potter in class.” 

“So,” Liz cut in, looking both very left out, but also like she had had an idea, which was worrisome. “Alex, would you like to join me and Aaron for dinner tonight? Friends night out?” 

Alex would have felt very cornered in the conversation if Aaron hadn’t looked so thoroughly surprised at the proposition. He was obviously just as blindsided by the suggestion as Alexander was by the confused expression on his face. 

Burr gave Liz  _ a look _ trying to convey a question without speaking. A silent conversation passed between the two of them that Alex tried to keep up with, but only partially succeeded in deciphering it. Burr wanted to know why or something of the like, and Liz was nodding her head in his direction which he could interpret easily enough. 

“So?” Oh Alex hadn’t actually answered yet, he should do that. He didn’t really want to go, but Aaron and Liz would get even more on his case, and Aaron might get Theodosia sr. on him as well, which would be frankly terrifying. She mothers very intensely. 

“Yeah sure, I’ll go. What time” no point turning down the offer when it would just lead to more people trying to dissuade his self destructive streak.

“Perfect. Six o’clock at the fancy Thai place on 8th work?”

“Which one? There are like three.” 

“Wait, do I not get a say in where we go?” Aaron asked, annoyed. 

“No” both Liz and Alex said I’m unison. 

“This is workplace harassment” Aaron said, stealing Liz’s chair as she stood up.

“Anyway” Liz said loudly over Aaron, “ I mean the one beside the weird ass cafe. I’m pretty sure it’s a cafe anyway, I avoid looking at it, it kinda looks like where the human traffickers go to get their coffee.”

“The one by the gay bar?”

“Aaron why is that how you know it?” Alex asked with a little more emotion. 

“It’s one of the nicer gay bars in the city.” He said it with such conviction that Liz snorted. 

“Aaron, that doesn’t explain why you  _ went _ .” She chuckled, exhaling harshly. 

“Cause I’m bi and Theo really enjoys clubbing? We do actually sometimes get time to ourselves without Teddy. Plus gay bars are so much more friendly than your average seedy bar.” 

“Burr, I genuinely cannot picture you at a gay bar with Theo.” 

“Alex you have seen me at a gay bar. We  _ went  _ to gay bars together.”

“Hmmm, I must have been drunk before even getting there, or blocked out the memory of you getting down and dirty on the dance floor with another person. It seems like a cursed image.” 

“Down and dirty….?” Aaron muttered, seeming incredibly confused.

“If that’s a cursed image to you, you definitely don’t want to know how children are made” Liz joked, putting her hands on her hip. “You know, seeing as Aaron has a kid.” 

“Liz, I adore you, I really do, but why would you do this to me?” 

“Some days I look at you and think ‘ _ hey, Alexander Hamilton is getting just a bit too confident’  _ and I decide to take you down a notch or ten.” She grinned.

“Liz, I desperately wish you were around in our college days.” Aaron said to her breathily “he needed a kick down the stairs called his ego.” 

“Rude. I was just smart and I knew it.” Alex was feeling more alive again, the banter easy to slide into. A routine. “Just cause I never shut up about my opinions doesn’t mean I had an ego.”

“You had an ego. And a bad one at that.”

“Hard to have an ego with no self confidence.” Alex joked, laughing as he leaned forwards on the desk. 

“You had-“

“Okay children, no more bickering.” Liz cut in, silencing them easily. “We’ve been on break for a while-“

“ _ You’ve  _ been on break.” Alex said unhelpfully. Liz shut him up with a glare. 

“We’ve been on break, we’ll meet up at six, Alex, eat these crackers, and we should get back to work.” She shoved some Cheese-its in Alex’s lap, pushing multiple pens onto his lap and the floor along with them. 

“So are we bringing partners or?” Burr asked as Liz forcefully shoved him away.

“Nah, tell the Theodosia’s they can have a girl night. I’ll see if Peggy can watch William.” She didn’t mention Philip. She obviously knew even if Alex hadn’t explicitly told her. Or Teddy had told Aaron and he told Liz, but either way. 

“Alright, see you two later then.” Aaron said as he left down the hall to his office.

~*~   


The Thai place they were meeting at was actually really nice. Alex had been down this street, had even eaten Thai food there, but this place must have been because it didn’t look like it had been there for fifteen years and was on the verge of closing as many of the restaurants he had been to in New York looked like. At least the ones he went to without people who were filthy rich. 

Even when he got inside, the waiting staff seemed kind, if not all fluent in English, the floors were swept and the tables and booths were nice in appearance. The lighting was decent, and the wallpaper was gorgeous. 

Aaron and Liz were already seated in a fairly empty section of the restaurant, not that it was overly crowded in the first place. The two seemed to be chatting lightly, already sipping on water. When they saw him, they waved him over, smiling like they had just won the lottery. Somewhere in the back of his mind, it occurred to him that they probably half expected him to cancel or just not show up. 

“Hey Alex!” Liz waved, scooching over in the booth in case Alex decided to sit next to her. Alex chose Aaron to sit next to instead, solely because he hadn’t moved. 

“Hey Liz, we literally saw each other three hours ago, has anything exciting happened in that time?” 

“Hi Alexander, oh hi Aaron, I have also missed you, my greeting a sign of friendship.” Aaron grumbled to himself, crossing his arms in mock offence. 

“Oh Aaron, I didn’t see you there!” Alex smiled sarcastically. 

“Oh, something did happen in the time we were tragically apart,” Liz laughed, ignoring both men bickering. “Apparently William was talking back to his teacher today.”

“Oh? You don’t seem incredibly concerned.” 

“Well his teacher is a dick, first of all, so before even hearing what happened I wasn’t incredibly worried. Apparently his teacher was singling out male students with more ‘traditionally effeminate’ interests, and when he called Will out for liking sewin’, Will tells the teacher he should learn it considering he’s got a hole in the rear of his pants. I guess the teacher was so infuriated he sent Will home for the day. I would be mad if the teacher wasn’t being a whole piece of shit.”

“Wait, what time did this happen? You didn’t say anything about it at work.” Aaron asked, shifting in his seat as Alex moved to sit cross legged in the booth. It wasn’t  _ rude _ . 

“Oh I only found out when I got home to find will and Peggy playing Mario kart together before school had technically ended. I guess he walked home himself and called Peggy rather than me. Not that the school called me until the end of the day either.” 

“So how do you know he’s telling the truth?” Alex asked, looking through the menu for what to order. Thankfully nothing was actually expensive here. Not that he would have expected Liz to choose anywhere where you had to pay more than twenty dollars for a meal. Aaron may have, but Liz was more money savvy than Aaron was. 

“Well, for starters Will is a terrible liar. He tends to stutter over his words when he’s nervous, and lying makes him nervous. Plus one of friends in his class caught the exchange on video.”

“Yeah that’s a pretty good basis for belief.” 

“Y’all, this place seems just a bit too nice for me to be walking in here with my nurses scrubs. What do you think.” Turning to his left, Alex saw that John was standing beside him. 

“John! What are you doing here?” Alex exclaimed, weirdly excited about seeing someone he hadn’t actually spent much time around. 

“Well I wanted to get some food while on break, and this place has good shit for a decent price, but then I saw y’all over here and wondered if you wanted some more company.”

“Laurens, it’s been a while.” Aaron said in place of a greeting. It wasn’t cold, per- se, just formal. 

“Hey, hey Aaron, it’s definitely been too long.” The only place for John to sit was beside Liz, which meant he and to introduce himself if they weren’t already acquainted like Aaron and him apparently were. “My name's John Laurens, I’m friends with those two,” he gestured to Alex and Aaron. “And you are?” 

“Elizabeth Sanders, you can call me Liz though.”

“Nice ta meet’cha Liz, you cool if I sit here then? Those two have taken up their whole side of the booth.”

“Yeah, sure. Although you could probably have squeezed in there if you tried. Alex is probably thin enough.”

“Mmm, I can’t really disagree with that. But I get more room over on this side” a waitress came over and took their order as they spoke, John apparently having known what he wanted before he even got there and everyone else having already decided a few minutes ago. 

So John, how have the last few days been for work?” Alex asked, preventing them from talking about him anymore.

“God, it feels like a brand new job. I’m actually awake again!” He said excitedly, taking a drink of the iced tea he had ordered. “No but really, I don’t think I’ve felt this rested since I started nursing.” 

“John, I am so jealous of you.” Alex laughed, partially joking. “I genuinely don’t think I’ve slept in the last 2-3 business days.” 

“Yeah I can tell.” John chuckled looking him over. “You look like you just walked out of the trenches, and had been there since the First World War.”

“I swear everyone’s metaphors about how dead I look are just getting more and more ridiculous.”

“John, he says he probably hasn’t slept in 2-3 days jokingly, but I’m 90.% sure that Alexander Hamilton just doesn’t sleep.” Aaron said seriously enough to have John and Liz laughing, while Alex glared at Aaron. 

“I second this notion,” Liz laughed, reaching across the table to high five Burr. 

“What is this, make fun of Alex hour?” 

“Alex, you’ve gotta know, all hours are make fun of Alex hours,” Aaron grinned, “speaking of, who here wants to hear embarrassing college stories of Alex. I have plenty.”

“Well I definitely want to,” John said at the same time Alex groaned;

“Aaron, no.”

“So at the beginning of college, I’m showing Alex around campus,” Aaron started, ignoring Alex. “And we run into a real tall handsome guy.”Alex groaned again and put his head on the table, knowing exactly where this story was going. “In Alex’s case, he quite literally ran into the guy. The guy is a real gentleman about it, saying something about southern charm before walking. Which of course means Alex is immediately defensive.”

“Aaron please” Alex tries to get him to shut up, feeling his neck go red in embarrassment.

“However instead of going to verbally fight the guy, he walks up to me all slow, a funny sort of look on his face and says really quiet ‘holy shit, that guy was hot.’ Now, this isn’t quite as funny if you don't know the context of who this guy was. For the entirety of Alex’s college career, the entire campus knew those two as mortal enemies.”

“Aaron please stop sharing embarrassing stories that downplay mine and Thomas’s rivalry.” Alex practically whined, his face still downturned on the table. 

Liz and John looked back and forth between Alex and Aaron before cracking up. Aaron’s smug face and the mortified expression Alex was probably wearing were more than enough to get them to laugh, even ignoring the story.

“John, why are you laughing? I thought you were on my side!” Alex said, lifting his head. That was when the jig was up, because they could all see that even though Alex was clearly embarrassed, he was also smiling.

John just kept laughing, reaching over the table just to touch his hand. Which made Alex even more embarrassed for some god forsaken reason. 

Their food came soon after, and everyone huddled down and ate, conversation still flowing, but slower than before as they ate. Alex almost choked on the curry he was eating at one point due to a joke John made, though so Aaron almost spit out his water, so he felt a little better at that. 

John apparently had to go back to work soon after they finished eating, he had to be a responsible adult supposedly. They all decided to leave soon after, paying for their bill separately which was a bit of a pain, but they succeeded. 

They walked out of the restaurant, Alex going one way, while Liz and Aaron went another, as apparently they had carpooled there together and not even offered Alex a ride. Before he got too far, Alex turned around and rushed back over to Aaron and Liz, tapping them on the shoulder.

“Thank you.” He said quietly. He knew they knew what he was talking about, with all of their scheming. He was feeling better. 

Aaron and Liz exchanged a look before they smiled. 

“Anytime Alex.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is like, no plot at at, but there are wholesome friendships and that’s all I need in my life so... Also, there are (in theory) only around two or three more chapters until Thomas finally shows up which is !!!
> 
> Either way, I hope y’all enjoyed.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pip’s back!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this at like 2am, so I don’t know if it makes sense. Also I dunno if I’ve said this, but my knowledge of nyc consists of like,,, Percy Jackson and google.

By the end of the week Alex was emotionally drained. Without Philip there to make him consciously check that he was mentally stable, his health just sort of slipped. His friends were being as supportive as they could, but it’s not like they could be around 24/7, and he wasn’t going to impede on their routine lives with his brain chemicals going haywire. Besides, he could usually deal with it well enough.

Thankfully it was Sunday, and Alex could go pick up Philip within the next few hours. He had actually managed to sleep a bit the night before, getting about five hours, which was much better than the 0-3 he had been getting the rest of the week. So while you could definitely tell that Alex had  _ not  _ been sleeping much, he  _ felt  _ better, which was so much more than any major appearance changes could have done. 

He spent the entire morning thinking about picking Philip up, as well as seeing Eliza. Dealing with Eliza was what about 60% of his brain was thinking about. Of course he was thrilled to be with Philip again, but Eliza had been incredibly difficult last Saturday and that put a bit of damper on his mediocre mood. Not that he was judging her for it, but being reminded of his mistakes on a consistent basis for multiple minutes, in time with the noise in his head was incredibly exhausting. 

So by the time he got into his car late that afternoon, he had replayed multiple possible ways the conversation could play out, and he was just entirely too exhausted to deal with his incredibly pissed off ex. Not that he had a choice. He was almost definitely falling asleep on the couch if he and Philip watched a movie that night though. 

The drive felt longer than before when he had driven there with Philip. That could definitely be due to rush hour traffic (why was it called rush hour? It was so slow) but it could also be due to the fact that Philip wasn’t there to entertain and be entertained. However he did have more time to examine his surroundings. As he left the city, the suburbs gave way to more and more trees, feeling less and less like the city.

When he arrived at Eliza’s house, circumnavigating her winding driveway, he saw that Maria and the kids were already outside on the front lawn, AJ and Angie playing in the sprinkler while Philip sat in the shade of the house with his backpack beside him. Maria was in a lawn chair a couple feet away from Philip in front of what looked like a small mulberry tree, the two were obviously keeping their distance. However Maria looked incredibly content watching the kids, a juicebox in hand and a couple more stored beside her, presumably for AJ and Angie, unless she was feeling particularly like enjoying quite a few juice boxes. 

When Philip spotted Alex’s car, he hopped up, a look of excitement on his face. At his reaction, Angie and AJ turned to look over at him as well, a grin splitting Angie’s face, while AJ’s face lit up. As his younger children rushed to grab their towels from Maria, she turned her face away from the book Alex hadn’t initially seen in her lap. She smiled, waving softly, before grabbing an old phone from beside her. 

As soon as Alex parked the car and stepped out he had three kids barreling into him, hugging him tight. It certainly wasn’t as dramatic as their reunion Saturday, but Angie was laughing and AJ was laughing and Philip was squeezing him tight, as if their time apart had been longer. Although, considering the fact that Philip had consistently seen Alex everyday for the past two and a half months or so, it was understandable that a week without Alex would have been disorienting. 

“Hey pa,” Philip mumbled into Alex’s side, his voice barely audible. 

“Hey Pip,” Alex smiled, wrapping an arm around Philip. “Was your week good?” 

“It would have been better if you were there,”

“Dad!” Angie shouted, yanking on his shirt, diverting Alex’s attention to her, though his arm was still wrapped around Philip. 

“Hi Angel,” he said just as enthusiastically, squatting down so he could wrap all three of them in his arms. “You all have fun together this week?”

“Yeah! I missed Pip. We got to play with the new toys momma got him, and we had pizza for special supper one night cause it’s been so long.” Angie had taken a step back and out of his arms to talk, waving her arms around in all sorts of unintelligible gestures. 

“Maria made tacos Wednesday,” AJ added, smiling at Alex. 

“Well you all seemed to have had a really exciting week then huh?”

“Pa, when are we leaving?” Philip asked abruptly, gripping his bags.

“We have to wait and say goodbye to your mom and Maria, okay Philip?”

“But I wanna go home, Pa.” he whined, gripping Alex’s arm tightly. 

“Come on Pip, don’t do this.” Alex said, running his fingers through Philip’s hair. “You’re gonna want to say goodbye Pip. Plus I have to talk to her about when you’re coming over next.” 

“But Paaa,” 

“No but’s Philip.” Alex said sternly. “Angie, how about you take your brother to play for a bit while we wait for mom?” 

Angie grinned, grabbing Philip’s hand excitedly as she pulled him towards the sprinkler, Philip still holding his bag and definitely not wearing a swimsuit of any sort. She went to grab AJ’s hand as well, he just grabs onto Alex’s worm jeans tightly and glares at Angie. She looks at him, and then at Philip before pulling Philip towers the sprinkler once more, this time with vigour. 

AJ makes grabby hands at Alex, a sad look in his eyes. He was really the only child of Alex’s that didn’t enjoy speaking, as he was usually a quiet child. However when he did feel like speaking, he wouldn’t quiet for multiple hours. He just appeared to not enjoy talking too much. Possibly due to having two older siblings who spoke a  _ lot. _

AJ gestured again, eyes wide. 

“You want me to pick you up bud?” Alex asked, checking that he was reading the signals right. 

“Yeah,” AJ said quietly, raising his arms. 

Alexander smiled at his youngest before sweeping him into his arms, his knees popping as he stood up straight. He looked up from his son in his arms to see Maria walking towards him, her juice box in one hand, and an unopened one in the other. She smiled at him once more, her skirt fluttering behind her in the soft breeze. 

“Hey Alex.” She said, handing the other juice box she was holding to AJ, who took it happily. “Eliza will be our soon. She was just prepping lunch for the kids. I texted her, so she knows you’re here.” 

“Alright.” The two were quiet for a moment, watching the Angie try to drag Philip through the sprinkler, laughing, while Philip runs around it, trying to avoid getting wet. “So how have you been Maria,” Alex asked, breaking the silence. 

“I’ve been incredible.” She grinned, joy practically radiating from her. “I’ve been seeing a therapist for a while now, and have been feeling so much better. I don’t know how many times I’ve thanked you, but thank you for encouraging me to divorce Reynolds. I’ve been so much better off. Of course, I have bad days where I’m stuck in a loop of feeling guilty that I’m not still with him, that he loved me. But Eliza’s been a big help on those days.”

“That’s so good Maria. I’m so proud of you.” Alex can’t help but grin at her as well, genuinely happy that she was happy. She smiled back at him, her grin even larger than before. 

“Philip has been amazing this week. I don’t think he’s a big fan of me, but I don’t really blame him. Other than that though, he entertains his siblings so well. It’s clear he missed them.” 

“Mmh, he was so excited to get to see Angie again. AJ too of course, but Angie especially.” 

While the two of them spoke, Aj was resting his head on Alex’s shoulder, sipping quietly on his juice box. He appeared to be half asleep, leaning his head on Alex as he was, his eyelids fluttering. 

Their discussion flitted from the kids to their weeks and many times Maria spoke of Eliza. It was easy to talk to Maria. She had a quiet charm about her, and a wit to match his own. As they spoke the front door opened and Eliza stepped out, her eyes narrowing at the sight of Alex, but softening just a bit at the dozing Aj in his arms. 

“Alexander.” She greeted passively, obviously in a mildly better mood than she had been previously. 

“Hi Eliza.” 

All three were quiet for a moment, he sounds of Angie screeching in delight nearby encapsulating a lot of the noise. Philip shrieking also joined Angie’s yelling as she picked up the sprinkler and aimed it at her brother, even as he tried to flee. 

“So.” Eliza started, clearly collecting her thoughts. “I was think about two weeks from now I could have Philip again for another week?” It was phrased as a question, but Alex could clearly see that’s not what she meant it as. 

“I- yeah sure. I’d imagine you miss him. Angie and Aj definitely do.” She hummed in agreement, turning to look at the two siblings running around the yard, Philip now soaked as well. 

“Also, it’s a bit early, but I was thinking I could have them for Christmas, being as I have a big family thing that day and you-“ she didn’t finish her sentence but Alex understood it all the same. She had a family to bring the kids to, he didn’t. “Besides, you don’t even really celebrate Christmas.” 

He sincerely felt uncomfortable at that, her use of the religion he had been raised with to take away a chance for a nice holiday with his kids. He wanted to fight his hands, get rid of the nervous energy that was slowly increasing as the conversation continued. However, since he had a child in his arms - essentially a dead weight considering he was halfway to asleep - he couldn’t exactly fidget without significant worry that he would drop the poor boy, he bounced his foot on the gravel driveway in hopes that it would help. 

“So for how many days before or after do you want to have them?” Alex asked, trying to squash the anxiety crawling up his stomach, it really wasn’t necessary or helpful. 

“I was thinking maybe the whole Christmas week? That way I can enjoy the Schuyler family Christmas as well as the extended family Christmas. Plus some us time obviously.” Eliza seemed indifferent to his discomfort, taking, not quite with a smile on her face, but definitely in her tone. 

“You had them last Christmas though?” It was an attempt to get her to change her mind, even though he knew it wasn’t happening. Maybe he could convince her for New Years. 

“I figured you could take them thanksgiving.” Yeah because that was a fair trade. 

“Yeah, sure… that works for me.” He wasn’t going to complain about time with his kids. Even if he wasn’t happy about it.

“Perfect.” She sounded so casual saying he wasn’t going to see his children for any extended period of time until thanksgiving. “I suppose you should be off then.” 

“Yeah. Do you have a towel Philip can borrow? He’s looking a bit wet.” A bit was definitely an understatement. Philip was absolutely drenched, his hair dripping as Angie giggled. Apparently Philip had gotten the sprinkler, but not before Angie had soaked him. His hair was definitely going to be a pain the dry and keep from getting all tangled. His sons curly hair was definitely a hurdle that Alex had to get over real quick. Especially when he decided to let it get long. 

“Yeah, sure. I’ll grab it.” Eliza offered, probably one of the nicest things she’d done for him since the divorce. Not that that was a very high bar to hurdle. Actually it was pretty damn near the ground. 

As soon as Eliza got into the house, Maria leaned closer to him. 

“I’m sorry about her being like  _ that _ . I can’t really control where she directs her emotions and you seem to be taking the brunt of her anger.” She seemed sincere in her apology, her eyes genuine as she squeezed his shoulder. 

“It’s okay. I do kinda deserve it.” 

She looked at him sadly, obviously aware that she wasn’t changing his mind on the matter. Before she could have even tried however, Eliza came back out of the house, a towel in hand. Philip had stopped causing Angie with the sprinkler in revenge and was walking back smiling. Angie was trailing not far behind, soaked as well, though she seemed incredibly smug. 

“So we going now pa?” Philip called out from where he was on the grass. He was definitely in a better mood. 

“Yeah Pip. You’re just going to have to towel off. Don’t want you soaking the backseat.” He grinned as Philip apoached, ruffling his hair, which looked much longer wet. 

“Aight Pa,” Philip said, taking the towel from Eliza and immediately rubbing off his clothes arms and legs roughly. 

“Do you want a hair tie for your hair Pip?” Alex asked as Philip rubbed at his hair with the towel, which was definitely not good for his curly hair. 

“No, being in a car with my hair up hurts.” He told Alex as he squeezed his hair out like a wet washcloth. Which made Alex wince at the combing that was going to need to happen. 

“Well we should probably be off.” Alex said, smiling as Philip eagerly grabbed his bag. 

“Alright,” Maria said, moving closer to Alex. “ here, I can take him.” She held her arms out for AJ, a smile on her face. He handed him over gently, trying not to wake the kid. He was obviously exhausted. 

“Are you going to say goodbye to your mom?” Alex asked Philip as the boy was about to climb into the backseat after squeezing Angie tightly in a hug. Philip looked up, seemingly a little disappointed, but turned to Eliza anyway and gave her a hug. It wasn’t as enthusiastic as his hug to Angie, but it wasn’t lacking joy. As soon as it was over he was scrambling into the car, eager to go home. 

Before Alex opened the driver side door, he squatted down to Angie’s level and enveloped her in a hug. She grabbed onto the hairs at the base of his neck, clinging tightly. She obviously was not enthused about him and Philip leavening.

“Bye angel.” He whispered in her ear, rubbing her back comfortingly. “I’ll see you soon. I love you. You wanna tell AJ that I love him too, since he’s not awake to hear it from me?” 

“I love you too daddy.” She muttered, sticking her head into his shoulder. “I can tell AJ that… bye.” Alex rubbed her head softly once before she stepped away from him, rubbing at her eyes. 

He stood with a groan, his left knee popping again before he turned and opened the car door. 

“Bye Angie, bye Maria, bye Eliza,” he said to them, turning his head but not the rest of his body.

He then stepped into the car and started the engine after rummaging through his pockets for his keys. He turned the car around, waiving through the window at Angie, who now had tears running down her face. He got a small wave back from Maria, or as much as she could with a child in her arms. Eliza have no reaction. 

They left the driveway easily enough, as there was not much traffic down this road. Philip was pretty quiet during the first leg of the journey, humming along to songs on the radio and looking out the window. It wa sheen they actually got into th city that he started talking. 

“Hey Pa, why is mom so mean to you?” He asked, sounding a bit irritated, though at what, Alex didn’t know.

“I did some dumb things that made your mom angry Pip.” Alex said, being as vague as he could. 

“Yeah, but she won’t even let me talk about the fun stuff we do together at the dinner table. She always said save it for later.” Philip seemed a little distraught at this, his tone of voice having shifted. “And she talks to you real mean too.” 

“She’s just angry Pip. Though I can talk to her about the dinner table thing if you’d like” 

“No!” He shouted, his hand hitting the car door. “I don’t want her to be mean to you anymore.”

“Alright Pip.” He said calmly. “So, do you want to get some ice cream for dinner? A special treat.” 

“Yeah!” He shouted, even louder than last time. 

Oh boy, if Alex thought he was exhausted before he left, he was feeling it even worse now. At least Philip was back though. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am but a simple liar. I said 2-3 chapters until Thomas, but it’ll probably be next chapter. I had a chapter before this one written out, but it was a bit too filler-y so I scrapped it. If y’all want I can still post it tho.


	15. Chapter 15

When Alex and Philip got home, both were exhausted. Alex emotionally, and Philip was literally falling asleep on the couch. They both agreed that take out was the best option, with Philip immediately telling Alex he wanted pizza. It was a slow and easy night for the two of them, watching movies until the sun set as Philip dosed on Alex’s shoulder, a half eaten slice of pizza in front of him and a nearly full glass of water resting precariously on the table. Alex was staring at the screen, thoughts going on and out of focus. He was aware of Philip, and sometimes his body and the screen in front of him. 

His emotions were somewhat faded, it felt like someone had put a dimmer switch on them, which meant Alex probably wasn’t at peak mental health. But he was feeling vaguely content with Philip leaning against him and he felt no need to move. It was a problem for when he was lying awake at two am trying to fall asleep. He could sort his head out then. 

He took Philip to bed at the end of the movie, having to shake the boy awake softly. He then went and got himself ready, slowly pulling on his incredibly worn ‘pj’ top, which was really just an old shirt. He then brushed his teeth and collapsed into his bed, his body feeling exhausted but his mind not shutting up. 

It was going to be a long night.   


~*~

The next day after his sleepless night of staring aimlessly at the ceiling, Alex walked into work looking - as Liz so gracefully put it - like a corpse on wheels. Alex for his part just flipped her off and walked to the breakroom to steal some coffee that the company spent very little money on. It tasted like shit. Not that the taste mattered much, he was drinking it hot enough that he couldn’t taste it much. 

However when he arrived at the breakroom, he was met with what was possibly the worst person to show up. 

Standing right in front of the coffee machine talking to James Madison jovially was Thomas motherfucking Jefferson. 

It had been a long time since he had seen the man, nearly a decade in fact, but he would recognize his obnoxious ass anywhere. Thomas was largely unchanged appearance wise at first glance, hair immaculately cared for and wearing disgustingly overpriced clothes. The kind where it doesn’t scream money with its branding or whatnot, but rather with the small details of the stitching and the suspiciously nice looking fabric. He was also still wearing eye blindingly bright colours, though in the time since Alex had last seen him, Thomas seemed to have achieved some sort of realization that wearing twenty rings was too obnoxiously rich, even for him.

As Alex stared at the man whom he had absolutely despised during his college years Alex was sorely tempted to turn around and walk right out of the room, much needed coffee be damned. But alas, the coffee, in fact, was much needed, and Alex would be damned before he  _ bought  _ coffee rather than take the stuff that was freely available. 

So he straightened his shoulders, held his head up and walked over. Then around Jefferson and right to the coffee maker, avoiding eye contact but keeping rigid. He put some coffee in the machine and turned on the pot having to lean back and wait for the coffee to brew before he could get the hell out of there. Jefferson being the socially oblivious person he is kept on talking to James without a second glance to Alexander. (It was possible that Thomas wasn’t as oblivious as his lack of apparent awareness showed, but Alex didn’t believe it for a second.) However, Alex’s ‘cover’ was blown when James called out to him in what was obviously meant to be a friendly but couldn’t have been more unwarranted. 

“Morning Hamilton.” Jefferson’s head snapped around, looking at Alex in what appeared to be shock. “How are you this morning.” 

The internal groan Alex let out was loud enough that Alex was sure he had accidentally let it escape his mouth. Thankfully by the other men’s reactions, he had not, in fact, thoroughly embarrassed himself in front of his colleagues. The point still stood. He really didn’t want to deal with Thomas Jefferson. Ever really, but also at that specific moment. 

“I’m well Madison.” Alex replied, completely ignoring Thomas presence, which was probably incredibly rude, but Alex was not feeling human enough to care. His one coffee he had had from his own house was not enough to sustain him. “How have you been?”

“Well I’m good, but by the bags under your eyes, I’d say you are not so much well, as you are in desperate need of that coffee you’re brewing.” James replied, laughing. Thomas was fully gaping now, eyes wide and eyebrows halfway up his forehead. The only thing missing to complete the cartoonish expression was his jaw on the floor. Which Thomas had enough dignity not to do. 

“Mmmh, I would almost definitely kill anyone who tried to take this coffee,” Alex agreed, mostly in jest, “Liz called me a corpse on wheels when I walked in, and while I don’t exactly appreciate it, from what I saw in the mirror this morning, the description was not far off.” 

“Hamilton?” Jefferson spoke for the first time since Alex had been revealed as Alex to him, and it was almost comical. His voice was an octave higher than usual and cracked halfway through like he was still a teenager going through puberty. 

“Jefferson” Alex turned to look at the man in question, keeping his face as even as he could. James looked between the two of them, confused. Apparently he must not have known the two knew each other.

“James since when does Hamilton work here?” Thomas asked, whipping his head around to face James. His voice was still higher pitched than normal. Apparently he was feeling some sort of way about Alex being there. Which was fair. Alex was also feeling some sort of way about Thomas being there. Mostly annoyed, but also a bit confused. 

“He’s been here… what, two weeks I believe?” It was phrased like a question, though he was looking at Thomas, rather than Alex, who would actually know when he started. 

“It’s actually been closer to a month.” Alex told him, kind of ignoring Thomas. 

“James! Why didn’t you tell me!” Thomas hissed. Obviously trying to be more quiet, maybe so Alex can’t hear them. Which he could, loud and clear really. 

“Well I didn’t know you two knew each other. It’s not like you told me” James crossed his arms, looking at Thomas, unimpressed. Alex almost wanted to laugh at the fact that James, who was a head and a half or so shorter than Thomas was staring the man down, and Thomas was actually backing off. 

“I figured it wouldn’t matter,” he grumbled, arms falling from the defensive position he had set himself in.

“Well then you can’t bitch to me about not knowing.” His tone saying that was the end of the conversation. Surprisingly, Thomas backed down at that, which was something Alex didn’t know Thomas could do. 

James looked like he was about to pesue a conversation with Alex, which Alex was really not eager for, especially with Jefferson right there, and looking less and less dazed by the moment, which meant that he was probably going to start a fight of some sort. Or at least try to. That was Jefferson’s motif really. Sure Alex would fight back with vigour, and maybe he had sometimes searched Jefferson out just so a fight would start when he was feeling pent up. But while he definitely usually started the shouting, it was rare that he started the argument. Which was odd seeing as whenever he would do any other type of public speaking, he would often freeze up, eyes wide, before he began speaking slowly. 

However, before James could start talking, encouraging some sort of conversation, and by social etiquette, forcing Alex to stay for much longer than he wanted (not that he wasn’t already doing that) the coffee pot started beeping, which meant he could get his coffee and get the hell out of there. He quickly snatched his refillable coffee mug and pulled off the lid, pouring in as much coffee as he could, and almost spilling the coffee on himself, before scurrying out of the room with a goodbye to James. 

Walking down the hallway, he stopped at Burr’s door, throwing it open as hard as he could without spilling his coffee on himself for the sending time in a week and making a complete fool of himself. It wasn’t a very hard slam considering his muscle mass was slim to none, and he was mostly skin and bone, but burr still jumped in his seat, knocking multiple pens off of his desk in surprise.

“Alexander!” He shouted, stabilizing himself on his swivel chair, the fear that had swept over his face quickly being replaced with fond irritation. “What have I told you about throwing open that door without any forewarning. You’re going to give me a heart attack one of these days.”

“Burr! Did you know Thomas works here?” Alex asked loudly, closing the door quickly before pulling up a chair. 

“I did. Why?” Burr sounded a bit nervous, probably because Alex and Thomas together generally meant trouble, usually for him.

“Cause he’s fuckin’ here, and I ran into him!” Alex hissed at Aaron, half out of genuine anger that he hadn’t been told, and partially due to the adrenaline from escaping his encounter with a conversation with Jefferson. 

“I mean he could have changed,” 

“Do you not know? Also how? It was college, most people are pretty firmly set in their beliefs by that point. So the fact that he was super homophobic is kind of not great? At all?” 

“Alex, you know people change all the time right” 

“Yeah but… just… it’s Jefferson!” Alex had slid forewards in his seat, dragging the non swivel chair forewards - closer to burr desk - which lead to an annoying scraping sound on the cheap hardwood, as well as pushing the rug that lay in front of the desk right up close to it. 

“So?” Aaron was looking less nervous about Alex commuting homicide and more exasperated. 

“Aaron stop trying to be a good moral compass, it’s making me feel bad about complaining.” Alex whined, throwing his head back.

“Why do I hang around you” Aaron groaned, laying his head on his desk.

“Aaron, you don’t have a choice.” Alex joked, patting Aaron’s arm from across the desk.

“Go back to work Alex.” Aaron grumbled, head still down on the desk. 

“Fine fine. But first,” Alex stood up, talking a large gulp of the hot coffee, probably getting first degree burns on his tongue, and walked around the desk closer to Aaron. “Is there anyone elske I should know about here? Like, is professor lee here? Perhaps Samuel Seabury? Cause You didn’t tell me about either Lafayette or Thomas.” 

“I mean Ben Walker is dating one of the higher ups, Von Struben, so you might see him around,” Aaron said raising his head from his desk to look at Alex. “Also, in my defence Thomas has been in France for the last month and a half. I’d honestly forgotten about him.” 

“Really? Huh, good for him.” Alex stood thinking for a moment, sipping the coffee he had sacrificed his dignity (a little dramatic, but talking to Jefferson totally counted as sacfricing his dignity) for. “How do you forget about Jefferson?”

“Well it’s not like we work on many articles together. Besides, I’m in this office most of the time and he’s in his. It’s not like I really have a reason to see him either.” Alex narrowed his eyes at Aaron, looking him over. Even if Thomas was a bit of a recluse, his voice in his papers was distinctive and his appearance was definitely not something you forgot with what he wore. “Don’t give me that look Alexander. Not all of us throw ourselves head first into our work and ensure we know the names of our colleagues at all times.”

“Unfair. I only know half of the people in this office by name.”

“So the people you could google?” Aaron asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Maybe…” Alex grumbled, taking another sip of his coffee, which was getting to an actual drinkable temperature which meant he could taste it, which was… unfortunate. 

“Mhhh” Aaron hummed, picking up the pens he had knocked to the ground when Alex first entered the room. “Now get out and go work. I have things to do, and while I’m sure you have less, you still have to work.”

“Fine fine,” Alex said, slowly meandering around the desk and to the door. He moved a little faster after Aaron reached across his desk to give Alex a good shove as he was taking a sip of his coffee, which made some splash on his face and drip onto his shirt. Guess he was never getting that out. Shit. “I’m going, I’m going,” he shouted over his shoulder as he felt Aaron’s eyes on his back. 

As he walked into the hall, he saw Jefferson walking into an office at the far end of the hall opposite the breakroom. They made eye contact for a moment before the other man put on some speed. 

Well if nothing else his return was going to make the workplace very  _ interesting. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not only am I later than I’d like to be, but it’s also not very long. My bad for that. It’s also not a great chapter so all around no good from me. 
> 
> I hope y’all still enjoyed

**Author's Note:**

> I’d apologize cause they were real people I’m writing about, but they were also real shitty and they’re dead so they can’t read it. Which is good


End file.
